Yoshihiro Takayama: The Shoot Years Deep Dive

[Ma Stump Puller]

Other Deep Dive stuff

Introduction

Through Takayama's wrestling years are pretty well documented by now, not a ton is really focused around the first 5 years of his career which was almost completely dedicated to being a shoot-style wrestler in the likes of the UWFI as well as showing up for most of the very short-lived successor-promotion known as Kingdom. This has been a curiosity for a while as I'm a big fan of Takayama in general, so the idea of seeing him in a completely different environment was a very interesting proposition. 

I've reviewed and documented almost all of his matches from those five years to go over here, through this will only be focusing on mainly his actual shoot-style matches, so I won't be including his more comedic Golden Cups work in NJPW and the like; I will be throwing in some inter-promotional work regardless as it is practically impossible to avoid once we go into 1995/1996 when Choshu starts to get involved with the UWFI and whatnot. I'll also probably skip over the REALLY short stuff, namely the matches under a minute as they really don't do anything mindblowing for the most part.

I'll also be throwing in some bonus matches for the occasional indie date afterwards when Taka got to wrestle shoot-style again, though mostly for UWF reunion cards. I'll be ranking the matches the same as the Tiger Mask thread, reminder of that below:

1. Great 

2. Good

3. Decent

4. Forgettable

This is more of a formality so anyone who's skimming these can get a quick synopsis of what to watch and not to watch without having to read through paragraphs.

 

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Vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara (UWF-I Sekai Gannen: Hakata Live 26.06.1992)

This is Takayama's first ever recorded match ever, and it's quite noticeable from his shaved buzz-cut, a signature of most wrestling rookies starting off, as well as his considerably skinnier body: seeing him so lean and thin is a shock given most people are used to his larger frame. Taka and Kanehara will have endless matches over the years but this is their first meeting together. The lads are still pretty green, with Takayama just flat-out stumbling over in the first 30 seconds and Kanehara having to cover for him by going to the mat. His selling is still very good through; he sells a Achilles Lock by just outright screaming and hugging the ropes, which is weird to see given his later "tough guy" status. The match itself is very frantic, with Takayama having the advantage on stand-up with his knees and slaps while Kanehara is the more competent on the mat, so we get a lot of interaction between the pair as they push their respective strengths. 

Takayama's strikes need a LOT of work and don't look very good at all (seriously, he does like some tap-kicks in the middle-half of this that look dreadful) but I at least appreciated the attempt. That said, the crowd still get into this when he's having to escape from Kanehara's submissions due to his natural underdog stauts. He uses the ropes a lot to this effect and can't really do much about it: even his counter-submissions are countered fairly effectively and turned against him. There's a weird thing in the middle where they both seem to hit low blows on the other (Takayama's seemed accidental while Kanehara just outright palm strikes it as a receipt) which looked a bit awkward and didn't really do anything. 

Eventually Kanehara gets one too many holds in and manages to win with a single-leg Boston Crab before transitioning to a kneebar for the win. Some good moments but both lads are naturally a bit clumsy and there's not really a narrative or story beyond Takayama escaping submissions and trying to survive. As for the big lad himself, he's nowhere near his best yet but shows potential, especially in his knee strikes (which will become a signature of his wrestling style) but at the moment he's still very green and struggled in making the mat-work look convincing when on the offensive, with a lot of contrived moments. Kanehara was a lot better in general, through he didn't really bring much intensity to this at all and his strikes were also kinda eh in places. A decent start but a LONG way to go for both men. 

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Kanehara II (UWF-I The Root of Wrestling 28.08.1992)

Takayama has already lost to Kanehara three times over (two of which are unrecorded) things have to change now, right? Not exactly. Taka takes the early advantage after a scrappy start, hitting a side kick that does clear damage by how Kanehara backs off suddenly in pain, but Taka's messy strikes means he can't capitalise, allowing Kanehara to grab on a side-takedown and drag this down to the mat. They have a decent exchange there as Kanehara slaps on a cross armbreaker and struggles for it, with Taka having to reach for the ropes when his defence is finally ripped away. The lads build up a good narrative in which Taka is able to knock around Kanehara in stand-up but can't make any definitive breakthroughs while Kanehara opts for mat-work and vicious takedowns but Taka is able to keep safe through rope breaks and defensive work.

There's a awesome spot in the middle section where Taka hurls himself for a reckless leaping kick while Kanehara is backing up in the corner which hits the guy, but also allows his opponent to take over when he hits the mat. The action isn't super amazing, but the pair manage to get some great heat here as they both get closer and closer to their endgame goals. Taka gets some sensational falls (involving some stiff wide slaps and a huge German suplex in the second half that the crowd explodes for) but can't get a definitive win. At one point Kanehara just goes "fuck it" and forgoes the takedowns for spinning Savate kicks and slaps, which catches his opponent very much off guard and allows for a knockdown of his own, which was a great reversal to surprise everyone with. 

I just like how messy this gets around about the end: both guys just start throwing out dropkicks and big bombs in a attempt to finish the other off, and there's a big sense of uncertainty here as Taka looks the most confident he's ever looked thus far. Eventually Taka starts to gas out, allowing for Kanehara to clinch multiple submission false finishes until he can get in for the kill, stunning Taka with slaps before rolling him onto the mat and into side-mount. A quick Americana taps him out for the fourth loss in a row.

This isn't incredible in terms of technique but the heat and pure chaotic energy this produces more than makes up for that. The duo have a natural chemistry that allows Kanehara to get the best out of the (still green and clumsy) Taka in the best ways involving furious strike exchanges, slaps, knees, all the stuff you'd expect, even if Taka still can't strike very good and still looks very awkward given his size and whatnot. The brawls that Taka will have later on his career are almost influenced completely by matches like this where he's off the chain and throwing for the fences. Taka sells really good with how he can crumble sell for one minute and explode in violence the next, managing to once again get the crowd heated up for his win over his rival. Mat work is mostly basic but competent on Kanehara's half but is more of a side-attraction to everything else going on here so it's excused in my mind. Not a "good" shoot style match by any means but it's pure fun and definitely a good addition to the Takayama/Kanehara endless feud. Arguably stole the night in terms of quality (especially given the main event is a 3 minute Albright squash). 

RANK: Good

 

Vs. Tom Burton (UWF-I World Heavyweight Title Match 21.09.1992) 

Takayama is facing up against Thomas Burton, well known for.... being a jobber in the WWF? In all seriousness, Burton had a pretty respectful career for himself both here and elsewhere, being a useful guy who could do odd jobs anywhere but his UWF work is where he was given the most room to wiggle around in. Burton actually gets a good bit of work against Takayama, catching him off guard with some grounded work and a heel hook at one point. He's no Albright by at least a few miles but he can at least have some sort of convincing style here as he continually keeps Taka down and away from his height advantage. He tries to sell Taka as being too much to handle in terms of stand-up....

Taka's striking stuff at this point is still pretty dreadful through, so you have Burton running from his dude landing limp slaps and slow kicks for the most part like he's some scary prospect, which is really funny, but I doubt that was what they were going for. My other issue is that Burton just kinda holds on to Taka's body here for dear life during these mat-sequences: he doesn't try for submissions or really anything, he just sorta gets to the body in a half-comfortable position, holds on and waits. As you can imagine, this is fairly boring to watch and not going to lie, the early sequences are just all this with the odd point where Taka either gets some control or reaches for the ropes. I would appreciate it more if it was apart of a longer gameplan to maybe force Taka to lose via points or just wearing him out for bigger stuff but nothing of sorts is really communicated here.

Burton tries to inject some fire into this by hitting Taka with a few loose shots after a rope break out of frustration, but Taka just goes into the same stuff he'd been doing the whole match for about nine minutes until he decides to use his knees to nail Burton enough for a big German suplex, which was pretty cool but then the match just drifts back into the same pattern again of Taka getting taken down, going to the ropes and then resetting.

Eventually Taka starts actually throwing stuff and the crowd pick up for it because the first half was so boring. Burton doesn't change his gameplan at all and keeps just holding Taka's midsection endlessly until the finish has Taka hit him with a slap and a kick to the face, which knocks him out of the ring. I get why this exists as a device to get the young Taka over as a act with resiliency, but man, this is just not very good namely because it's maybe too realistic: Burton is a wrestler and basically just wrestles Taka to the ground for the entire match with no real gameplan beyond getting Taka on the mat: he shows no agency, and that fucks the pacing of this badly. Not very good, and it's not really Taka's fault here: he's still a noobie and can't direct a match like this. Burton is not the man to be pushing so much when there's not a lot to go against at all. 

RANK: Forgettable 

 

Vs. Mark Sliver (UWF-I Combat Sport: Takada Vs. Kitao 23.10.1992) 

Really feeling like I'm cheating here given this match only lasts for about a minute and a half and it's not the good kind of short match either for reasons I'll get into. Sliver runs in and pushes Taka onto the floor early, but ends up eating a submission after his leg gets caught by Taka and his Sayama-lite Enzuigiri counter is ducked under. Sliver gets caught and screams a ton while in the hold, which is unusual for such a early bit like this. This carries on as even with the rope break and the ref calls a break for a bit until resuming. Sliver tries going business as usual with some wild swings but his leg once again gives out and the match is quickly called off with Taka declared the winner. 

Apparently this was a legitimate injury as Mark Sliver will be gone from UWF-I for a while (he'll try to come back a few times but his leg will keep giving out) said injury will somewhat plague him despite his fairly decent work (he has a bonkers match with Kakihara that I'd absolutely suggest watching when you can). Obviously this is a non-match given the length and lack of action; it can't really be considered by any standard whatsoever which is usually why I don't like doing matches this short.

RANK: ????

 

Vs. Kanehara III (UWF-I Final '92 The Root Of Wrestling 20.12.1992)

Kanehara has beaten Takayama numerous times at this point, and this time the stakes are higher as the latter has gotten to the finals of the Jr League over two opponents only to be met with the same man again. He proves that he isn't going to be so easily beaten this time by taking the initiative by getting a Achilles Hold on early after blocking a roundhouse, needing Kanehara to reach for the ropes for the first time. Takayama's strikes still aren't perfect (his slaps even by this point don't look good at all despite all of the experience) but his knee shots are already looking quite smooth and hard-hitting. There's a awesome spot early where Kanehara just picks up Taka and hits a amazing rolling backdrop to get a takedown proper on the guy, which even with him assisting is no easy feat. 

Taka returns the favour with a big Capture Suplex into cross armbreaker not to be outdone. What I love in particular about this match is the HEAT: the crowd are really into this and little bits and pieces by the duo really highlight how this is more than just a regular match: the sneaky kicks on the ground by Kanehara, Taka just rampaging around and refusing to give his opponent any space, even when a loose slap may have potentially caught Kanehara's eye for a illegal move. Taka doesn't give a shit, he just runs at him full force with a jumping knee to get that knockdown, and any chance he gets to inflict more damage is taken in a heartbeat. We also get a vicious kick to the head after Kanehara catches one from Taka, which looked pretty stiff. Taka also hits a German as per standard, and it's also equally as good.

They do tease Taka getting the big win a few times here, namely in the middle; Taka gets him down for a sleeper for a rope break, before following it up with some flush knee shots for a knockdown. However, Kanehara is way too stubborn and manages to get Taka for a second takedown and a jumping heel kick, which evens the score. The second half is built around Taka withstanding a ton of abuse from Kanehara on the mat, namely to his legs to immobilise him. Taka is dangerously low on points, so every break is a step closer to failure; something the crowd pick out and keep thunderously cheering for the tables to turn. Taka is positioned as competent but ultimately outmatched on that front: outside of some reversals and a accidental elbow in the eye when he's escaping a hold, he has no real luck handling Kanehara's submissions. Near the end he's spent and needs to use his legs to merely push Kanehara away, especially after some stiff slaps knock him down again.

One too many result in yet another mat exchange: Takayama's flaw is giving his back up to escape side mount, which allows his opponent to grab on a rear naked choke for the win. Really awesome bout that's by far the best out of their series thus far. The crowd is really up and roaring for every close shave strike and hold and the duo really exploit this with some great stagger-selling and fatigue building throughout. Kanehara is solid and Taka, while still pretty iffy, gets really good here when he's unloading with strikes despite getting gassed in the latter half. It's not a scientific match by any means of the imagination but these two have a grove together that just boosts the pair up: Taka has this natural intensity to everything he does even if he's sloppy at points and Kanehara who's mechanically solid but typically a bit dry gets to feed off that to give his stuff a lot more pro-style drama behind it. Strong stuff. 

RANK: Great

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I'll be going through these year by year as not to bloat this up too much so next post will cover his 1993 tenure. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ma Stump Puller]

1993

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Vs. Burton II (UWF-I Final Battle In Budokan 14.03.1993)

Taka has already got a KO victory after Burton's attempts to ground him failed utterly. Like with many long matches, this starts off hot with Burton hurling Taka around and taking his mid-section. Taka, however has improved from the last time: he isn't so easily disabled from the ground anymore, and he quickly proves that by grabbing Burton into a Fujiwara Armbar, needing Burton to reach for a rope break. There's some unintentional comedy as one random in the crowd keeps trying for a "Burton" chant very loudly, which people end up laughing at. 

A lot of the early exchanges are basically Taka trying to show he can do mat work, but Burton keeps pulling out rope breaks or counters to just wiggle out of any definitive finishes here. The mat work is mostly just typical UWF catch work, with both men trying to nab legs and arms for submissions. I do like how Taka's strikes being not very good plays into the match here slightly as Burton is able to slip through his tame slaps into takedowns and even some close shave submissions, even being able to time kicks into leg work. Unlike their last match, Burton shows agency, consistently slipping through Taka's stand-up and shooting for takedowns and submissions, making this a lot better paced in general, as well as addressing the fact that Taka isn't good enough at strikes yet for Burton to be properly scared. 

The crowd pops when Taka takes Burton down in a role reversal and manages to slap on a single leg Boston Crab, which almost nabs the submission if not for the ropes. Taka teases some extra submissions but to no dice, through he is able to get a KO off his eh knees and even attempts a Enzuigiri at one point when Burton catches his leg again, but gets dodged. I do like how the lads do mix things up here now and then, stuff like the above mentioned and some changes to strategy: at one point Burton just gets fed up with not getting the win and starts hurling strikes and pulling for a German suplex, but that actually fucks him over as Taka is able to hit his own after a counter and a pair of big old dropkicks out of the blue. Last minute has Burton land a nasty snap German and Taka taking a big knockdown, which leaves him pretty dazed. He sells fairly well as he tries to stay in the match as best he can, eventually hitting a loose boot that sends Burton flying.

He grabs on a single leg Boston Crab again but the bell sounds before the potential tap-out. Burton doesn't sell anything afterwards while Taka does, making for a weird disconnect to end the match. All in all, not the best draw I've seen by a fair bit. The duo tend to repeat a lot of the same stuff at points and a LOT of this is just them in side mount more or less as they awkwardly try to pace this out without both getting tremendously gassed in the process. I appreciate that they add in some excitement here and there with some solid action, even if the technical work isn't really anything special: if you've watched UWF-I undercards at all this isn't really breaking the bank. I did think this was quite good in places however, just way too long. Burton isn't bad though, I'll give him that. 

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Mark Fleming (UWF-I The Fight of Champions 10.04.1993)

This wasn't aired officially but exists as a decent quality fancam alongside the rest of the show bar the main event. Fleming is a well known Thesz trainee and you can clearly see that by his fairly old school approach to this match and others, but was harmed business wise by the fact that he's pretty much Karl Gotch tier in terms of taking wrestling 100% seriously as a sport, thus didn't really get much of anywhere despite pushes both here and elsewhere at points, because being that serious in a carny business like wrestling tends to not work out.

He starts this off by predictively trying to wrestle Taka into submission, but he's able to avoid his grasp. Fleming is able to trip him up in places, which tends to leave them sitting in side mount until a rope break or something to that extent. Taka does get some counters here and there but he's never been a mat guy, so a lot of it tends to be kinda slow and not particularly convincing. There's a lot of resets here and despite some exciting moments completely thrown in by Taka (namely his big running knees and just regular blows, which while still wild and somewhat sloppy do at least have a aura of danger about them) Fleming stays to the same method of just running into his opponent with takedowns and some brawling at points.

Taka is a lot more wild here and it actually seems like a actual shoot in places as Fleming gives him zero room to do his usual big knees or general offence. He lands a Butterfly Suplex and shoulder charge for a knockdown; when Taka gets up he tries using the ref to block himself for breathing room but gets charged anyway. Fleming lands a rear naked choke for a rope break before hitting his opponent with a spinebuster into a STF: a obvious callback to Thesz as that was a move innovated by him.

Outside of some exciting moments this mostly just kinda doesn't really go anywhere interesting. Fleming gives Takayama zero leeway to do any of his shit, so he's stuck having to sit around for Fleming's wrestling, which while technically crisp is rather flat and isn't really interesting for the most part, especially with someone who isn't good on the mat and can't play off him much at all. More or less just a filler undercard showing that I honestly had to watch again for this as I forgot most of it.

RANK: Forgettable 

 

Vs. Bad News Allen (UWF-I The Fight of Champions II 06.05.1993)

Even near the age of 50 and with a lifetime of wrestling already under his belt, Bad News was such a badass that he just casually walked into the UWF and started taking names. Dead serious here, Allen won a LOT of matches in the UWF, especially given his legitimacy as a Inoki student and Olympic Judo career made him a ideal foil, even if he wasn't a natural to shoot-style and certainly wasn't conventional. Here, he's facing a still maturing, still awkward Takayama in their first bout together. Taka pushes Allen after a staredown and that basically seals his fate here. Allen gets him off his feet quick with a leg sweep takedown after taking his slaps but gets to the ropes before anything can happen.

This gets repeated again after some very messy stand-up work as Allen gets another takedown, but Taka hits the ropes after a brief struggle as Allen works on the arms. Once again this happens, as Allen's strength allows him to just push over Taka after getting past his tame strikes. They decide to go into a striking segment, with Taka taking advantage with some knees before.... well, a bad, bad fuck-up. The Russian and English Bushido version of this edits this next part out of the broadcast (so you get a awkward cut that doesn't really make much sense without context) but the original footage still exists. Basically, he aims for a belly to belly, but can't quite get Allen through the whole hold, leading to him falling nearly on his face. Pretty scary stuff. 

He tries to follow up with some kicks but Allen just no sells and looks real pissed off, enough that even the ref doesn't even count it as a knockdown in fear of drawing his wrath. He potatoes Taka hard with some stiff elbows before they reset again. He also hits Taka with a stray illegal closed fist that catches his eye, forcing the ref to step in. Taka tries to get back in the game but two more leg sweeps allow Allen to get a cross armbreaker for the win. Not going to lie, this was... kinda shit? Like Allen spams the same Judo throws over and over while Taka botches his only big spot of the match, leading to Allen just shutting down and dominating from then on in. There's nothing here that was anything interesting and the mat work was mostly just Taka rolling to the ropes almost all the time. The stand-up was PAINFULLY awkward, with Taka looking lost in places as he struggles to do anything beyond limp slaps and kicks and can't work off someone more chaotic, leading to a lot of moments where I struggled to tell what exactly was going on. I've seen Allen have better matches during his time here, this just seemed like a bad match that got worse after the botch. Really don't bother with this one.

RANK: Forgettable

 

Vs. Bad News Allen II (UWF-I Pro Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship 18.07.1993)

This feels like their original match if the botch hadn't happened. Taka shows disrespect towards Allen by not shaking his hand instead of shoving him, he has the exact same gameplan of running it and just throwing shit until something sticks while his opponent has to kinda take everything and hope he can grab on something to get this down to the mat. Taka's stuff still isn't very convincing but he throws a lot so it's less noticeable and gets a good German suplex after a minute or so of wangling for control. 

Allen's moments come when he can get the younger guy down to the mat where he can go for his signature cross armbreaker, which he manages to do but is way too close for the ropes. He also has a pretty amazing arm-trap judo throw into side mount choke that Taka barely escapes from. He tries for more aggression but predictively gets tossed down into a deep double wrist lock, once again forcing a break. Of course he tries the exact same thing again because he's that one dimensional and Allen finally picks him off with a cross armbreaker. Humbled by the experience, they shake hands post-match.

Naturally this is essentially a rethread of their original match bar the botch, only shorter by a minute. The narrative of Takayama being a cocky youngster that gets completely dominated once his predictable style is picked apart works here given his inexperience, and Allen is more generous and gives Taka a lot of room to do what he wants in the first minute or so before going into Judo throw city, which while not the most varied did showcase a side to the guy that I don't think many tend to see: namely his ability to work legitimate mat-work and holds into his repertoire. Might be worth checking out as a curiosity and was definitely better than the first match as the two get along a lot better. 

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Gene Lydick (UWF-I The Fight of Champions III 13.08.1993)

This ruled. I think a interesting note to make of this match in particular is that Takayama tries a lot of stuff that he typically doesn't throw out: he tries to be a bit more versatile than his typical knees and kicks, opting more for rolling wheel takedowns, leg work, some fancy side kicks at points, a Enzuigiri etc. It's decent enough given he's typically not doing stuff like this whatsoever in his matches and mixes things up a bit. 

Lydick is pretty strong across the board and very competent when it comes to throws and mat work especially, hitting some vicious German suplexes across the length of this bout alongside Taka, who does the same. Both men score strongly at the start, hitting multiple takedowns and knockdowns on the other man before eventually slowing down into more of the style expected. Middle portion has Taka try his hardest to work over Lydick's legs to make sure he's out and out, but he actually does himself in throughout this process, using up multiple rope breaks and neglecting his knee strikes, which gave him the most success to that point. It's interesting in a meta-sense to see how Taka's rookie nature sorts into how he loses this by playing up to a bad submission game than simply to use what's most effective here. I doubt this match is THAT clever but still.

Lydick eventually recovers and lands some submissions of his own, but Taka is able to escape them, namely because Lydick tries pulling for the cross armbreaker, which is Taka's speciality, allowing him to defend any attempts at it. He finally gets back to the knees and kicks which score him another knockdown. The road to the finish is intense as both men go gun-ho with slaps, with Lydick being able to clear the distance and land a big belly to belly into a single leg Boston Crab for the win.

This follows a pretty simple but strongly paced formula of big moves followed by little impact mat work: the big power moves are done quite well while the mat work is decent enough but nothing to where you'd be impressed by this point. Taka's mat game is pretty bland and Lydick certainly knows what his role is, his mat work is a little bit iffy here and there, maybe that's just who he's working with but still, it's not a strong point of this match: that goes to the crazy deadlift suplexes and sharp intensity between the two. Lydick conveys well how he has to essentially close the distance by taking some blows from his opponent for the potential of landing a big throw to equal things out: that idea of gambling in a environment like this shows up here and there but I feel like it was a critical element of the match, especially in the second half where they both can't afford to go back and forth for long due to the reduced time limit for Jr matches. 

Takayama looked immensely good here as his knees and strikes felt a lot more stiff and controlled; not a lot of the rapid-fire sloppiness I've seen the last year and a half. The result is a match that struggles to have a identity when it comes to the mat but has a clear motive when it comes to stand-up work, which I feel both men exceled at far more than the latter. Definitely check this out. 

RANK: Good

 

Vs. Kanehara IV (UWF-I Standing Bout Battle 05.09.1993)

The first time Takayama is main eventing a card, and it's with his eternal rival once again in the Jr League. the crowd already knows about his consistent winning steak over the guy and so the two prepare this match specifically around that factor. Kanehara thus dominates during the early sections with sharp strikes to the legs and head alongside smooth mat-work. Taka's strikes are still all over the place and they don't tend to look particularly great most of the time, especially next to someone who hits a lot harder (Kanehara's thing in RINGS would be his legitimately impressive punching power) so naturally he plays the underdog despite his immense size advantage. Taka has some smart counters on the mat but stays to the conventional holds and submissions for the most part, with no real innovation on that front.

Taka's selling is generally decent, with him buckling under Kanehara's leg kicks at times and struggling to escape his holds without getting rolled into another one and forced to use a rope break. In particular Kanehara really works over the legs, using a lot of ankle locks and kneebars: his transition work into these is at times incredibly well done and very smooth on his part. Said submissions hype up the Korakuen crowd a ton, with them piping up when Taka eventually manages to get some offence in of his own, but that doesn't last long as Kanehara quickly counters his hold into another leg lock.

The only botch of the match comes when Taka messes up his German suplex spot (Kanehara just doesn't jump for it) and results in them awkwardly sprawling into a sideslam instead, through Taka does make up for this with a good reverse chinlock for a near fall tease. While Kanehara isn't the best at emoting or has much of a personality, I do like him getting frustrated at Taka consistently using the ropes to escape stuff over time as he's more frantic and holds things on for longer despite breakage. The second half of this is a bit more chaotic as the two go for their wild, less controlled pacing: namely lots of strikes and whatnot with a increased pace. I liked Kanehara also finding workarounds for Taka's stand-up, exposing gaps to close the distance or grab on a submission, but then getting so beaten up that he can't really do much about it anyway due to fatigue.

We get some role reversal as Kanehara ends up needing rope breaks to escape rogue submissions numerous times until he eventually relents after a Boston Crab and some more stiff knees to a big crowd reaction as this is Taka's first win over Kanehara since he debuted last year, ending his streak of losses. This gets really good in places but struggles with some unconvincing strike exchanges and a repetitive structure that gets rather old. There's some adjustments over time but these come after a fairly long first half. The leg work was good, shame Taka didn't really sell it beyond a knockdown or two afterwards. Kanehara is still the better workrate-wise and definitely gives Taka a lot, but he's improved well for a rookie and doesn't look half-bad minus the dodgy strikes when not hurling knees. The crowd really boosts this up but frankly I'd say the match they had last year trumps this by a fair mile.

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Tommy Cairo (UWF-I Pro Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship 05.12.1993)

This is yet another Jr League match against Ironman Tommy Cairo, mostly known for being around during the very early days of ECW before it took off. He's definitely not very good (even by UWF Gaijin standards) but he's fine for a filler undercard guy to job out to the actual big acts. Taka takes Cairo down early with low kicks real early, takes a fall before charging into the guy and landing a big German suplex, which Taka no sells and goes back to booting his bad leg until he falls back down. Cairo sells the whole thing like he's about to cry as he lamely attempts to get his hands up before Taka lands more hard kicks for what seems like forever (including a nasty side knee to the face) before he tries rolling into a toe-hold, which I think he botches the first time around as he ends up hitting the ropes and has to disengage for more kicks. He gets it right the second time and Cairo quickly taps out.

This is definitely not something that I'd suggest running out and watching, but progression wise this is probably the first time we've seen Takayama as a destructive force just running through somebody with knees and kicks until they can't move anymore. It's a shtick he'll master in the early 2000's to become a must-see main event machine, but as of yet he's still working out everything. That said, Cairo makes the guy look like a million bucks and Taka definitely has a handle on how his lanky legs give him just so much room to land all sorts of different shots until the finish. It's messy stuff but I thought this was a acceptable squash match.

RANK: Decent.....for what it is. 

 

Vs. Greg Bobchick (UWF-I Pro Wrestling Second Junior League 15.12.1993)

Gonna be 100% honest: I have zero idea who Bobchick is. This is also his second last match before he disappears from pro-wrestling as well so I imagine he wasn't a prospect that lasted very long in general. He battles for the second place spot in the Jr League with Takayama, whom had did surprisingly good beyond a singular loss to Gene Lydick, which cost him a spot in the finals against Kanehara again.

Bobchick starts things off with mostly takedowns, but his opponent is able to sprawl out of them with his knees or with some surprising agility on the mat, even when his back is exposed: for a guy this big you really wouldn't believe just how mobile Takayama was when he was younger. He is even able to counter one attempt with a surprise kneebar, which forces a rope breakage. Despite a (very messy) Judo throw by Taka later on, he's not able to actually do a whole lot to Bobchick and subsequently gets taken down proper, albeit Taka is still able to defend himself enough that it allows him to still get in the game. Bobchick's general work is fine enough: he's very competent on the mat for what it's worth and knows how to wrestle, but he's a bit dry and doesn't really have much in terms of personality or intensity: I can't buy him just casually exchanging holds and think this is actually him trying to win, it feels more like a spar that he's taking slightly more seriously. 

He hits some decent enough shoot-style German suplexes and mostly focuses on the back of Taka with chokes and whatnot, but can't clinch a definitive hold. This ends in a pretty bad anti-climax as Bobchick seems to fuck his ankle up when doing a grounded sleeper (I looked back at the footage and it seems that he pulls his ankle pretty badly during the hold by accident as he has it wrapped up over his other leg, so it appears to get hyperextended as he's struggling in the hold) and thus Taka wins by literally doing nothing. Sadly this drags the match way down as the beginning section is fine enough but not really of much interest, it's just the usual "x tries to take big man down to the mat" paired with some good defence and some knees in-between as Taka shows competent defence and improved mat-game. Not really Takayama's fault here through: sometimes accidents just happen.

RANK: Forgettable

==========

This ends Takayama's Jr career as next year he'd graduate and join the main roster, which would begin a marked improvement in his performances namely due to working with more experienced talent. We'll see in detail soon enough.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ma Stump Puller]

1994

=========

Vs. Tatsuo Nakano (UWF-I The Kings Road 25.02.1994)

Takayama gets pissed when Nakano turns his back on him before the match, leading to him trying to bumrush him with a furry of strikes. While Taka is still pretty eh when it comes to them, his old trick of being immensely frantic disguises that somewhat, especially at the end where Taka is able to impressively sprawl out of a takedown attempt and land a flush knee to Nakano's face in the process, which actually did look not half-bad. Nakano no sells, naturally. Nakano's gameplan is to take Taka down to the mat, but he's surprisingly outmatched there as Taka is able to keep control... at least until he tries for a very obvious Achilles Tendon hold which Nakano counters into a heel hook. Smart work there.

Taka's clumsiness in stand up fucks him here as his leg gets stuck on the top rope after a kick (this little spot will be repeated a few times but it's the first time shown here) allowing Nakano to cut him down with low kicks. This becomes the main theme of the match as Taka rushes in to land more knees while Nakano stays more on the outside, throwing kicks to unbalance the bigger lad. When he's hurt enough, he gets in close with some stiff slaps to do more damage. There's a funny bit where Nakano is landing so many low kicks that he ends up falling over himself and doing a little roll. It's also funny seeing Taka do his Mummy-style shamble selling as he keeps getting hit with kicks until a knee to the head knocks him down.

Taka hits probably one of the worst thrust kicks in shoot-style history but it knocks Nakano down and he tries pulling another Achilles hold, but Nakano just counters the pressure and forces him to hit the ropes again. Eventually this combination of strikes allows Nakano to get in again for a rear naked choke, dragging Taka to the mat to finish him off. Nowhere near as good as their future 1995 match (we'll get to that!) this suffers from a more green Taka working. Nakano's kicks aren't always the best, especially when he's gassing himself up doing them and stumbling around in places as he's a bit too ambitious at points. The mat work is per standard and doesn't really pick up beyond third gear, making this a pretty nothing match all in all. I wouldn't say it was bad but nothing worth really checking out either ultimately, which is a shame because Nakano is a good worker.

RANK: Forgettable

 

Vs. Yuko Miyato (UWF-I Pro Wrestling World Tournament: First Round 03.04.1994)

A quick and simple mid-card bout for Takayama, this time against Shigeo/Yuko Miyato who is a 10 year Sayama trainee. Through he'd never be on bar with any of the established acts, he did have a very respectable career for himself and now spends his days beating up the next shoot generation in the UWF Snake Pit. He's still being pushed but more-so as a gatekeeper by this point, usually taking a lot of losses to the more established acts. Taka starts this off predictably with a rush of knees and slaps, but Miyato quickly gets him down with a lovely Judo throw and attempted cross armbreaker.

When they reset after the rope break, Miyato's eagerness actually bites him in the ass as a attempted takedown is countered into a very rare successful Grovit by Taka but Miyato expertly twists him down to the mat which allows him to counter. As expected, a lot of this goes into Taka's knees and slaps in stand-up vs his opponent on the mat, which both men opt to commit to a good bit here. Taka's defence on the mat is mixed: sometimes he does fine, sometimes he just ends up kinda getting screwed and needing a rope break: his stuff still isn't the most convincing but he's definitely getting better. He tries some ground knees at one point that his opponent no sells.

Taka eventually lands a awesome German suplex after overwhelming Miyato with shots, throwing in some extra kicks afterwards for good measure. He can't translate that into a actual win and eventually Miyato is able to get him down to the mat once more after a takedown. They square off a bit more, with Miyato landing some good slaps before getting caught for a second German setup. He blocks it, but Taka is able to quickly snap on a sleeper hold, which very nearly gets the win if not for the ropes. Taka tries for another rush of strikes but Miyato catches him for a sideslam toss into a tight head and arm choke for the VERY abrupt win: even the crowd were kinda confused by how fast he taps, especially given he's inches away from the ropes. 

Weird ending aside, this is a perfectly fine undercard bout that doesn't do a whole lot, it's just sorta there. Taka's stand-up at least looks a lot better here compared to other matches, even if he's a bit gangly at points given his height: taller fighters tend to have a lot of trouble aiming shots downwards, which is the case in pretty much all of Takayama's matches on top of having to actually pull them so they don't do tons of damage. The mat work is pretty standard: outside of a solid start, this tended to keep those parts minimalistic and mostly to the basics; safe, but immensely complacent as a result. 

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Billy Scott (UWF-I Pro Wrestling World Tournament: Semi Finals 10.06.1994)

Taka takes advantage early with stiff knees and slaps, some of which I believe legitimately do come into contact with Scott in places: he lands a heavy kick at one point that leaves Scott literally cowering in the ropes, which while may be a dramatic sell, I don't buy for something like this. This follows a pretty simple formula in that Taka is best at stand-up, Scott is best at mat-work and going for close range grappling and submissions. Sound familiar? 

Scott's grappling and throws are pretty solid as you'd expect from a Robertson trained talent: fairly smooth and with some strong submissions that I've definitely not seen much at all. Taka by comparison can't really do the same but he uses his size well to loom over and tremble his smaller opponent in places, going for brute strength rather than working anything fancy. His strikes are still fairly hit-and-miss, some of them looking good while some barely hitting the mark. His mat work is also fairly decent, and he pulls out some strong defence to handle himself well here. His main weapon apart from his strikes is his signature cross armbreaker, which is pulled out sparingly but used to great effect for drama: when Taka does apply it proper it's a big race against time for his opponent to reach the ropes, no fooling around in that regard. 

The transitions are a bit unconventional (like Scott at one point does a literal School Boy as a way to get Taka off his feet and into a Achilles Tendon) and can look a bit iffy at times but I enjoyed the David/Goliath dynamic and how Taka kept getting outpaced or worked around. We get a steady build to the finish as Scott pulls out a goofy backdrop and Taka hits a dropkick, with the latter landing bombs until Taka's momentum gets halted after Scott catches his leg mid-kick, throws into a deep Dragon Screw before going into a single legged Boston Crab for the win.

This used a basic dynamic and used some good variation to keep things fresh: it helps that both men know how to incorporate that into the proceedings throughout, including some nice transitions by Scott on the mat alongside Taka hurling out his usual sharp knees and slaps. It definitely isn't going to break the bank for a UWF-I quality undercard, but it's reasonably solid and doesn't really stall at any point, which is always a plus these days. These two will have better work together later on but Scott and co work a neat package here with something for everyone.

RANK: Good

 

Vs. Mark Sliver II (UWF-I Pro Wrestling World Tournament: Finals 18.08.1994)

They work Sliver's real knee issues into the match by having Takayama run in and kick it until he falls over and loses. Sliver gets some bad slaps in and pushes Taka over until his opponent goes for a big inner thigh kick that knocks Sliver right down and the ref calls it off after a attempt to count. It's definitely a worked injury at least here given Sliver is able to get up afterwards just fine (albeit leaning in the corner) as opposed to the first match together where he was just completely done. I don't know if they wanted this to be quick because the matches here ran rather long or Sliver just couldn't commit to a legitimate match.

I'm not ranking this.

RANK: ???

 

Vs Kanehara V (UWF-I The Kings Road - Tag 1 08.10.1994)

Even in the heavyweight division these two just can't get away from each other. Anyway, this is probably their most well known match together as it is essentially 20 minutes of utter carnage as the two go to war. I really liked how they work their past dynamics here as each really want to put down the other: Taka goes for big punts and knees, trying to go for his usual stampede antics while Kanehara leans more on the striking end than prior matches, honing in with low kicks while dodging Taka's crazy offence, even a few high-flying moves like a dropkick and whatnot.

While I do like the stand-up segments for what they are worth (as stated, these two have great chemistry and know how to get a crowd buzzing from stiff shot to shot) but they haven't quite figured out the riddle of mat-work yet as things quickly default to Takayama being stuck on the ground having to struggle for defence and rope breaks while Kanehara hunts for holds continuously. They can't seem to translate their amazing stand-up sequences onto the mat, either due to a skill imbalance or just them not having a formula to work with. I'm fine with teasing submissions and showcasing endurance with someone taking multiple close shaves to get the crowd rooting for them, but this went on a bit too much and seeing as I've watched these two from the beginning, I'm kinda burnt out from seeing this over and over. 

Having the legitimate 6'5 Takayama just consistently on the backend for 20 minutes as well felt off for me, especially given how he had taken a decisive win over his opponent a year ago; feels like they've just stepped back from that to go back to these old structures again. It being a draw may annoy some but it was fine for me given this had warranted that given the fatigue factor. This does have great moments but I think these two struggle to pace out the longer length when push comes to shove, which is a shame because if this was just 10 or maybe 15 minutes, I'd like it a lot more. 

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Dan Severn (UWF-I The Kings Road - Tag 2 14.10.1994)

This is obviously nowhere near as epic as when these two men will take each other to the very limits nearly a decade or so later, but it's a perfectly fine bout that has Severn just toss around Takayama and terrorise the poor lad with his usual antics. Severn isn't quite as good as he will be in a few years when he figures out the whole "pro-wrestling" thing but he can still throw someone as large as Taka with no real issue with his legitimate amateur wrestling credentials.  

Taka's offence is still rather iffy even at this point and time but he can throw a good knee at the very least, which is enough here to score a knockdown on Severn. Alas, this is just a casual work-day for Severn and he casually shakes it off, later hurling around Taka a few more times as well. He does get caught in a cross armbreaker at one point, but he's able to scramble for the ropes effectively before he would need to tap. He also sells for another knockdown by Taka after getting barraged with some (limp) knees, later going on to destroy him with a German suplex into a terrifying looking modified arm Bow and Arrow/choke for the win.

This is a swift and quick match, marred with a lot of big shots and sheer violence. Severn is pretty good and Taka is....well he's fine at the moment, even if his strikes look pretty iffy even here. Severn isn't much better in that front but he hides that well under his sheer aura of menace. 

RANK; Decent

 

Vs. Naoki Sano (UWF-I Next Challenger Final 30.11.1994)

Takayama comes into this with his typical aggression, hurling out knees and kicks. Sano is more than accustomed to that and manages to get in some slaps of his own before trying to take him down to the mat. Taka impressively counters into a cross-armbreaker attempt off the takedown but that isn't able to be applied properly, with Sano blocking the attempts to get the hold applied and reversing the leverage. The middle section is basically both guys going through some competent mat work; nothing inexcusable but nothing particularly interesting either. 

Sano works on the legs when he can but Taka's mat defence is fairly solid, so he can sprawl and roll out of most of it instead of abusing rope breaks. Sano does take full mount at one point and pulls for a Kimura but Taka is able to get his long legs to the ropes before that happens. Most of Taka's actual offence is him basically charging in and hurling kicks and knees, which don't always look great but are at least convincing enough that you buy Sano having issues as they do manage to hit their mark most of the time. He stuns Taka with some signature Savate kicks and teases the German suplex, but ends up taking one himself after Taka manages to break the wrist control and nail the full thing.

Last minute or so is just both men hurling slaps and knees: Sano takes a fall but quickly gets back into things with a takedown, engaging in a cross armbreaker (which Taka rolls out of) and manages to counter a second German into a Americana, which forces his opponent to tap out. Not bad stuff generally but this is pretty middle of the road for UWF material. Takayama looks fine in the field and Sano brings some well needed experience and raw stiffness at times to make this a bit better. You get what you expect to happen here but this is still a solid match all in all, with some good mat work and strikes combined with a pacing that never gets too slow or out of the action for long. I will say that these two will be MUCH better in Kingdom together as the mat-work will look a lot more natural compared to the more stiff version we get here between the two.

All in all, while not something amazing for a end of year bout, it does showcase that Takayama is slowly figuring out the tools needed as his mat-work at least here felt a lot more coherent as opposed to how he was in 1992 and whatnot. 

=========

1995 will begin Takayama's swing into pro-style matches to go alongside the UWFI's partnership with NJPW as well as his work alongside Anjo and co in the Golden Cups.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ma Stump Puller]

1995

==========

Vs Tom Burton III (UWF-I Pro Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship 16.01.1995)

The start of the match has Taka's advantage be pegged in pretty easily as he hunts down and knocks down Burton to the mat, being able to capture his back before aiming for his signature cross-armbreaker, which Burton needs to get to the ropes for. He is basic in his holds, throwing out a side headlock transition and double wrist lock attempt respectfully. He doesn't really wrestle "shoot" style, more so just conventional wrestling with the occasional submission. There's a good spot here where Takayama hurls knees and kicks but his inexperience means he catches his leg on the rope for one (which is a nod to the 1994 Nakano bout) which costs him a potential win. Takayama learns from his mistakes as he fires off less here: he also plays Burton by getting him in position for a cross armbreaker attempt before quickly grabbing his leg and going for a kneebar, which was a small but smartly worked bit.

He also pulls out a legit Boston Crab for shits and giggles. He knocks down Burton with a knee and German Suplex but Burton eagerly recovers and gets back into things; a bit too eager as Taka quickly catches him for a Fujiwara Armbar afterwards. Burton gets some pockets of offence with some joint manipulation but Taka mostly keeps the match under control. A few more knockdowns with slaps and knees puts his opponent deep in the hole, and despite Burton's spirited attempts to escape the German from being applied again by scrambling for control Takayama is quickly able to bring him down and tap the guy out with a side headlock.

All in all, a decent shoot-style match that isn't really remarkable in any real way. Burton is competent on the mat but very antiquated; Takayama showed some good strikes and was fast as hell on the mat at times, looked like a real star here. All in all, not essential viewing for UWF Takayama but a fun side-piece that gets over his developing strengths well against a opponent who was giving him massive troubles a few years ago (though that's probably because of Burton's rapid decline in importance since the start of his tenure) 

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. James Stone (UWF-I Sakigake 18.02.1995)

This is more or less a padding match for Takayama to boost his numbers up. James Stone is more well known as FBI member Little Guido, and it's amusing to see the guy here as a clean shooter type without any of his usual antics, through he does bring in a little comedy at the start when he gets startled by Taka stomping forward and trying to fake him out. Taka is confident in his stiff kicks but he gets a bit too comfortable doing so, allowing his opponent to sprawl him down to the mat for a side headlock. Stone takes some pot shots and sneaky stuff to get the bigger man off his game a bit here, with some surprising technical work at points in doing so. It's nothing fascinating by even the standards of the time, but he can work the conventional holds and clearly isn't being carried here.

Taka in turn is able to make his opponent struggle a lot in the middle segment, hurling out a good few submissions that require him to quickly escape to the ropes (namely a facelock and cross armbreaker respectfully). There's a goofy bit where Taka gets a knee in and Stone does like a delayed sell or whatever, shaking his head all over the place before stumbling to the mat; looked kinda silly but nothing offensive. Taka gets two more knockdowns with slaps and a thunderous stiff German Suplex (the first one Stone needs to signpost a bit longer than usual to get Taka to actually do something impactful to knock him down, which does look clunky if you pay attention to that) but eventually he gets beat after getting caught in a Guillotine choke.

Fine enough for a undercard bout but nothing really super special: Guido's technical training comes into full view here as he pulls out some nice counters, but he's mostly here to bump and sell, which he does fairly solid outside of some questionable bits here and there. Taka is still kinda clumsy at points but he's noticeably mostly on the money, with good knees and kicks. Good showing but don't expect anything spectacular.

RANK: Decent

 

W/ Kazuo Yamazaki Vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Kiyoshi Tamura (UWF-I Pro Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship Match 20.04.1995)

We get probably the quickest knockdown in living UWF history as Takayama stiffs Sakuraba with a slap and then a accidental knee to the head while he's falling down results in him getting a nasty bump in the first 15 seconds of the match. Outside of that, nothing that interesting: a young Saku practically eats up Taka on the mat but the audience know matches don't end this quick so they don't bite into anything. Taka is reasonably fine during these exchanges but predictively relies on a lot of fundamentals that you would really expect a decade earlier in UWF 1.0. Same thing with Tamura but Taka throws out some better strikes and some hard knees.

We also get some Tamura/Yamazaki action and it's rather smooth, with the latter getting over the younger man with some even grappling exchanges and him selling a slap like a sledgehammer. Also get some exchanges between him and Sakuraba that I fairly enjoyed: Yamazaki plays on the backend but still acts like a smart vet with some crafty work of his own to get around the speed of the rookie. Taka is as iffy as he usually is but I think his grappling is fairly decent here and he pulls out some interesting options throughout like a weird shoulder lock variation on the mat. Saku also gets in some strong enough technical work as mentioned above, but I found his selling to be somewhat iffy here, at times not really selling the agency of holds being applied; it's not terrible or anything but definitely a bit off-putting considering most of the action involving him did focus around being on the ground.

Finish has Taka get numerous leg shots by Tamura while in stand-up, which causes him to stumble and be incapable of hurling out the knees and pretty much  Predictively this allows Tamura to catch his leg and use it as bait on the mat, making Taka commit to full defence to prevent kneebars before then quickly springing to a cross armbreaker while exposed for a easy tap out: Yamazaki used the same trick earlier on but Saku was weary enough to defend until he got to the ropes.

Fine enough for a mid-card bout: Saku and co look pretty solid for two future legends of the U-style (for different reasons, of course) if a bit featureless at points. Yamazaki gets out a reasonably good performance and worked well with the two, making sure to get them over while also showcasing his experience in stand-up and mat work. Taka is mechanically the weakest out of the four but the most explosive, having a lot of time to just hurl big shots out and be intense, which is something he's way better at than trying to do shit on the mat. Solid enough but kinda just there overall despite the quality of performers here.

RANK; Decent

 

W/ Kazushi Sakuraba Vs. Tom Burton & Hiromitsu Kanehara (UWF-I Sakigake II 17.05.1995)

Taka mostly bullies Burton at the start with his strikes and strength while Sakuraba, even as early on as here, shows some of that technical excellence that he'll be defined by in his actual fights as he works on the mat very gracefully while still going for some aggression in pulling for a cross armbreaker transition after sliding over a side headlock to take the back. Kanehara does a lot better against the guy with some flush strikes and some explosive wrestling between the pair. Seeing them scramble for legit toe and leg locks was pretty well done, ending in Kanehara gaining the advantage and Sakuraba having to use a rope escape.

Taka and Kanehara obviously have great chemistry from their numerous prior encounters so no real issues with them as a duo. Taka gets a surprisingly half-decent submission attempt with a rear naked choke, but Kanehara is able to catch his legs during this and gets in a really unique figure-four toe hold in the process, forcing Taka to abort and reach for the ropes. Burton gets in and basically gets wrestled down and bullied again as per expected.

The pace of the match itself is mostly third gear for the start and middle portions: the technical work is fine and all but nothing particularly fantastical. Sakuraba spends most of this on the backend as the younger rookie of his team, and he does decent enough in that role even when having to convincingly sell for guys like Burton, who's middling in places in comparison to his partner. The pair get wasted by him in particular when he's able to knockdown Taka with slap uppercuts and some high kicks before just instantly wrecking his partner with a Superman Punch (well more of a slap given the rules, but still...) which was a awesome spot.

They get Taka over as well by having him knockdown Burton three times in a short burst as his knees and kicks are just too much to handle: not as well done in terms of a sequence but does the job fine. Sakuraba and Kanehara continue their mat-work with the pacing being fantastic: the two just move so fast that it's almost impossible to properly keep up with everything but it's also at the same time very smooth as they seemlessly go from transition to holds. Some might think it's a bit too seemless and lacks struggle (which is true to a extent) but I think the pair

They do a bit of a swerve as you think Burton is going to job to Taka, but he actually manages to get multiple successful submissions on the guy; it's Kanehara who takes the fall as his leg gets caught, leading to a successful kneebar submission win. Solid tag bout that pretty much establishes Kanehara as the MVP of the match: being able to get great mat work out of a fresh faced Sakuraba or hurling shots with Taka are two very different situations but he manages to juggle both amazingly despite the immense differences in pacing and intensity. 

Everyone else does pretty good...mostly. Burton is always quite meh but holds his own as per standard with some basic holds and strikes. Taka is a mixed bag with some good strikes and alright mat work but clumsy in places. Sakuraba as stated above is VERY smooth on the mat, even if his strikes are very much lacking. 

RANK: Decent

 

W/ Yoji Anjo Vs. Kanehara & Masahito Kakihara (UWF-I Soul The UWF Spirits 13.07.1995)

Debut of Golden Cups! These two haven't quite became the comedic group they will be later on though. The start of this is fairly good as Taka tries doing his running slaps and Kanehara just hits him flush in the face and knocks him down. These two have faced off countless times already and know how the other person works, so Kanehara has some smart counters to Taka's cross armbreaker and leg work but can't do much in stand-up with Taka looming over and landing knees. He tries for a belly to belly that he almost botches into a head spike (if not for Kanehara landing shoulder first) but ends up losing full mount and has to give up a cross armbreaker attempt after Kanehara works to one himself in a strong sequence.

Some miscommunication here as the two land dual knees at the same time with Taka eating one to the groin. Anjo/Kakihara is some real fun stuff as Anjo's intelligent mat-work contrasts with Kakihara's strikes, ending in the latter eating a German suplex but he doesn't sell it because the other guy needs to get tagged in. Kanehara also has some solid stuff with Anjo as he tries to close the distance but ultimately gets thrown down and into a great cross armbreaker transition for another rope break. Middle half has some nice stuff as the duo go for knee strikes while Kanehara gets some big throws out: really loved Anjo countering a big backdrop transition into a surprise armbar after Kanehara tried to follow up, looked slick as anything.

We even get some classic trolling as he feigns squaring up to Kanehara before tagging out swiftly after. Taka spends more time getting his ass beat (in particular a real nasty stiff right hand slap by Kakihara which sends him reeling) and has to get in Anjo again. He's not much of a striker but he's able to apply enough pressure to take Kanehara's back and then choke him out for a rope break. When Kakihara finally gets in against the guy we also get a great roundhouse for another knockdown. Latter half of this has the two work on Taka with low takedowns and submissions: he gets in (some) offence but mostly has to play defensively to the two sharper strikers, even trying a rolling wheel kick out of desperation before eating a hard kneeling roundhouse.

Anjo also gets in more strong work on the two as he's able to close distance and grapple, catching Kanehara's leg so Taka can tag in and run him over with strikes. Last few minutes have the Cup duo continually lose points via knockdowns and rope breaks until Kanehara's leg gets caught once again by Anjo and thrown into a tight STF, forcing the upset tap-out. Not everything works here and there's definitely some lulls, but I felt like this was a strongly paced match with a lot to offer: people really neglect how polished Anjo is when it comes to mat-work in particular here as he is by far the better man out of the Cup duo. Taka is fine but still a bit iffy despite massively improved mat-work, he seems actually engaged for once. Kakihara also got in some great strikes and looked very solid, especially when hammering down that advantage. Bit slow to start off with but has a lot to offer once things get going. 

RANK: Good

 

Vs. Tatsuo Nakano (UWF-I Soul The UWF Spirits 22.07.1995)

Takayama tries to end this quick with a furry of knees, but Nakano doesn't give a fuck and just no sells. I would complain about this but it's Tatsuo Nakano, he's EARNED that right a long time ago. He even purposely gives up control of the back after a mat-sequence so him and Taka can throw hands more, which after a short sprawl causes Taka to take a fall after some well aimed kicks to the head. I love how well Nakano just negates Taka's work: he goes to the legs to work them over but Nakano catches him in his own submissions, in striking he's able to tank a lot of offence to lure Taka in close range, which allows him to stagger the guy with stiff slaps to the face and then kicks to round things up. Everything done by his opponent he has answers for.

This trend continues: Taka is able to break even at points but Nakano hunts him down and makes him lose points over and over with knockdowns and rope breaks. His usual bullying and size aren't helping whatsoever, and we really get that selling from Taka here where he's just trying his damnest for something/anything to get him the advantage, so he pulls out some obscure stuff to try to get a foothold. Eventually this happens: Nakano gets too comfortable in close range, which gives Taka the chance to just hurl him to the ropes and land some stiff knees to the body. He's stunned enough that he's able to capitalise with a huge German suplex, which scores the first knockdown for him.

Nakano is really shell-shocked but he's just able to grab the ropes with what little remains, but he gets hammered with knees before getting caught in a rolling Guillotine Choke for the upset. Really well paced short match that kinda highlights how unpredictable shoot-style can be: Nakano holds all of the cards in the first half and it only takes a small mistake on his part for all of it to not matter. Takayama is a competent seller that gets over just how hurried he is when he finally gets on top, doing everything in his power to stay there. Nakano is solid here with some great controlled matwork combined with surprisingly stiff offence at points. A really solid sprint of a match with two heavy hitters just scrapping. 

RANK: Good

 

Vs. Takashi Iizuka (NJPW New Japan Pro Wrestling Vs. UWF International 09.10.1995)

The NJPW/UWFI first crossover show is mostly known for being a bit of a mess: featuring a out of prime Choshu running over Yoji Anjo in under 5 minutes alongside Keiji Muto beating Takada at his own submission game: if that doesn't tell you who was the lesser of this business relationship, nothing will. Most people know Iizuka as his later Crazy Bouzu persona but before then he was actually a accomplished tag worker and very technical when he needed to be. 

Iizuka knows the basics and keeps up the natural heat with this UWFI/NJPW company feud with some unclean breaks and some heated antics, which Taka follows suit in his own ways so the tension is mutual, which the crowd easily bite on. He also does his dropkick spot, missing once more to get taken down by his opponent in turn. Iizuka and co have decent exchanges on the mat, but nothing special or amazing, mostly just takedowns and some smart leg work to keep the bigger guy down; simple psychology but it works given Iizuka isn't supposed to be some amazing striker or anything. 

Taka works in some good holds (like a Grovit) and is outright the heel here, hurling in dirty slaps and undynamic working holds to keep advantage on his side. There's a good spot near the end where Iizuka counters Taka's knees with a awesome duo of Blizzard Suplexes, albeit that only gets a one count. Iizuka grabs on a double wrist lock and a rear naked choke to try to capitalise on the advantage he's been given, but that same eagerness eventually bites him in the ass when Taka inevitably adapts to Iizuka's lack of versatility and manages to counter a second wrist lock into his signature cross armbreaker, which Iizuka is unable to block correctly and ends up tapping. 

A pretty middling match and the lads have some really disconnecting moments between each other here between transitions, which makes things pretty weirdly paced. I also wasn't a fan of Taka just making Iizuka look like shit by no selling his finisher despite getting hit with TWO of them at the same time and he generally didn't really sell the effects of Iizuka's prior submissions after winning either, which put a bad taste in the mouth. The 1996 tag match with these two is a lot better than this, quite frankly. Quite bland quality wise and a strong styles clash as many of the matches on this card were.

RANK: Forgettable

 

Vs. Kenichi Yamamoto (UWF-I All-Out Contend Battle UWF International vs. New Japan Pro Wrestling 11.10.1995)

Bad business sense as we get yet another NJPW/UWF-I event just two days after the Dome show: this sold significantly less, mainly for the lackluster faces showing up. This is the only overtly non-NJPW match for some reason. Takayama's size becomes immediately a problem as he's able to space Yamamoto out with kicks, push him into the ropes, and then pick him up for a big old takedown slam to the mat. There's some alright work on the mat as they exchange fluid holds while also throwing out some slaps and palm strikes, ending in Yamamoto having to lunge for the ropes after he gets stuck in a Triangle Armbar.

Yamamoto tries to shoot down Takayama and disable the guy using ground work but he ends up giving up his back and gets caught in a rear naked choke, which they kinda have to weirdly drop so he can escape and go for the legs. In stand-up, Taka quickly takes advantage with his knees, scoring a quick knockdown. We get some bad looking slaps from Yamamoto as well as a random suplex out of nowhere. Yamamoto tries going for the arm with a Kimura but he can't get a good hold on Taka and keeps getting slipped out, ultimately heading to the ropes. He tries shooting again, but Taka is able to get him into a Guillotine which also gets countered into a kneebar.

Taka reaches the ropes once more, and when Yamamoto tries to risk it with a big rolling wheel kick, he completely misses, rolling into Taka's knee. This leaves him back exposed and stuck in the corner, which allows Taka to just basically boot the guy in the body for a easy knockdown. Yamamoto tries to get back in the fight but he's obviously done by this point, and it's easy pickings for Taka to hit him with a few knees and roll him clumsily into a weird neck crank Americana for the submission win.

This isn't great. Yamamoto is still quite green and inexperienced (he'd only been working for a year at this point) and there's a lot of staggered offence and pauses where both guys are kinda just looking at the other like "well? " waiting for something to happen. Nothing too offensive but it happens enough times to where it takes me out of the match. The action on the mat was fine but nothing particularly interesting: Takayama isn't a mat worker that can lead by his lonesome but he can at least work counters just fine, even if it isn't his element. Not a bad match but definitely something to where I'm not going to watch it again. 

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Kensuke Sasaki (UWF-I Full War All-Out Contend Battle UWF International vs. New Japan Pro Wrestling 28.10.1995)

UWF-I were still riding the interpromotional gravy train as we get yet another event for the two working together. These two will have a far better match later on in far different conditions but this is a interesting oddity. I think what's interesting is that they don't just pull a Choshu and have him wrestle a normal match: Kensuke legit tries to work shoot-style here, or at least attempts to mimic the home-front fundamentals at points. Lots of Sasaki just either overpowering Taka or just focusing on the basics: it's a weird thing to see him throw big slaps or try to work legit mat-work, but it's certainly not dreadful and he knows his limits in that regard, staying to his strengths.

He noticeably doesn't really give Taka much leeway in strikes, taking a ton of them and refusing to buckle or even sell that much until Taka literally knocks him down with a headlock. This continues throughout the match as Taka throws shit at Sasaki and he kinda just stonewalls all pretensions of selling and goes for his own weird body slaps instead. Like, the dude takes a knee to the head and still won't stop trying to get his shit over by holding to the body. Eventually Sasaki loses patience and tries for some more pro-wrestling stuff but Taka gets a boot and a flash submission for probably the first instance of him working on top as he struggles in applying numerous submissions, eventually ending with the pair struggling for a cross armbreaker. Taka follows up with some knees and a somewhat sandbaggy German suplex, following up with a nice knee to the head.

Sasaki basically just goes "ok my turn" gives Taka a nosebleed with immensely stiff slaps before going for a German, a back suplex, and a running lariat, which Taka crumple-sells for so you know it's the finish as he applies the Strangle Hold Beta for the win. Obviously a political match: Taka gets in his offence, Sasaki gets in his: but it has some charm into it as Sasaki as a shoot-style worker is a weird sight but he kinda works here when he's not no-selling or being awkward even if he is very obviously limited. Taka puts in a regular performance, more or less what I'd expect: varied strikes and minimalistic mat-work with dashes of the pro-wrestling stuff he'd start using more and more. That said, the action gets pretty bombastic and there's some strong bits here and there. Not great, but a enjoyable outing if you tolerate the above mentioned. 

RANK: Good

 

W/ Anjo Vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Masahiro Chono (UWF-I All-Out Contend Battle UWF International vs. New Japan Pro Wrestling 25.11.1995)

If you were shocked that ANOTHER show was produced after the first three then I'm not sure what to say. This is the first match in the UWF-I involving Takayama that is overtly not shoot-style whatsoever. any pretence of this is thrown out of the window here from the start as Tenzan yells shit on the mic before rushing in to brawl with Taka. He throws headbutts, Taka no sells. He lands knees in response, Tenzan no sells. They scuffle for a bit before Chono gets in and asks for Anjo, who's like "nah bro" and stays where he is. After a minute of awkward clubs to the back and some rope breaks he finally bothers to do so. Anjo gets in and tries for a test of strength spot, which got the crowd going. Chono refuses, so like the troll he is, Anjo tags out. When Taka goes into their corner and gets pushed out of the ring, Anjo gets a cheap shot on Tenzan and knocks him out with kicks while Taka lands a big dropkick to knock Chono out.

Taka hurls a protective guardrail into the ring out of nowhere and things get heated right from the get-go; crowd are loving this despite the lack of actual work going on. Golden Cups work over Tenzan in the corner with kicks and some stiff running knees from Taka. Anjo tries for a regular rest hold and rightfully gets thrown out of the ring for trying it, setting the pace well for the last bit or so. He also eats some nasty stiff Mongolian Chops in return: Tenzan lays them in pretty hard here, it's none of the usual shoulder slaps. Anjo gets worked over for a good while with some iffy exchanges until he recovers, landing multiple kicks on Tenzan.

Taka does some knees before going into a rest hold almost at once. Taka gets in a dropkick when Tenzan tries to tag out after a Boston Crab and escapes a powerbomb attempt from Chono, following up with.....you guessed it, more knees! Chono counters him and double teams with Tenzan, who wasn't even really selling the dropkick at all. Taka tries for more knees but gets countered after trying for a choke, with Tenzan slapping on a half-assed armbar to sit around in for a bit.

Crowd pops for Anjo countering a scoop slam from Chono into a Fujiwara Armbar, as well as Anjo getting caught in a STF after his desperation kick is caught, which was a cool exchange. Match finally picks up after Chono accidently nails Tenzan with a Kenka Kick, allowing Anjo to apply the Ground Cross 200. Tenzan recovers and lands a big diving headbutt to Anjo while he was applying the hold, which was awesome. Both teams land low blows to escape holds (Chono from a Takayama German in particular) and the finish has Chono tap out the guy after a Kenka kick into a Guillotine head and arm choke for the win.

This starts pretty bleh and continues to be naturally quite messy: these two teams don't have very good chemistry and it shows a lot in the stuttered exchanges and some very clunky motions. This is far more of a heat-orientated match and it works in that regard as both teams get the chance to really rile the crowd up with sheer aggression, even if the strikes are mostly not hitting the mark and there's a lot of stopping and starting in the momentum. Chono is very solid for what he was at this point as he sticks to what he can do well as a brawler, Anjo and Taka are a good duo as always even if Anjo tends to overshadow the far more limited bigger lad. Tenzan is Tenzan. Decent but workrate classic this most definitely wasn't. 

RANK: Decent

============

1996 will continue the cross-promotional trend as the UWF-I scrambles for relevancy, this time against WAR. The second half will showcase the dying days of the promotion as Takayama gets a huge push: will he have earned it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ma Stump Puller]

1996

==========

W/ Yoji Anjo Vs. Takashi Iizuka & Kazuo Yamazaki (UWF-I Challenge '96 High Tension 01.03.1996)

A pretty middling Golden Cups tag. The NJPW lads try to start things off with a brawl yet Anjo and co get back in right afterwards and take the advantage with some outside brawling as well as beating up Iizuka with the regular double team work. Takayama and him have a eh exchange over the arm but this is very much a UWF pro wrestling match than anything else, not really a lot of actual shoot-style at all here. Yamazaki literally just walks in and starts headbutting the shit out of Taka just to punch that point in. Anjo gets all of the heat here through as he mocks Yamazaki's headbutt-orientated work and is just generally his typical annoying self. 

As for Iizuka, he's fine as a act but his work is noticeably pretty dry. He's competent, but as per guys his build (technically impressive mid-card acts) tends to drift and the crowd aren't really interested in his antics any beyond him landing a big Hase-lite Uranage and rolling cross armbreaker. Anjo steals most of the heat here by illegally interfering in the match a decent ton and then blaming it on the other team, later resulting in Yamazaki kicking the dude in the face when he's trying to work submissions on his partner. 

Takayama's work is fine enough as well: he lands some big suplexes, knees and whatnot, but nothing of particular notice. Most of this is smooth work but it's not really much worth talking about generally. There's some nice double team bits where both teams get in their shit albeit this feels mostly stuck in first gear. Anjo gets his ass kicked in the last third by the NJPW lads, with a notable highlight being him rolling through a German suplex into a Kimura, which Yamazaki is also able to counter into his own for a false finishwith Taka breaking it up before going into a running knee + German combo.

This leaves him pretty much open for Anjo to land a Uranage and his Ground Cross 200 for the tap-out win. Outside of the last third being entertaining, this is fairly boring and not particularly interesting: this felt less like a UWF match and more-so a random NJPW undercard without pins. Yamazaki has some decent dynamics with Anjo but it isn't really enough to escape the fact that everyone kinda seems a bit middling here, especially Iizuka. Functionally fine, struggles to make any impact.

RANK: Forgettable

 

W/ Yoji Anjo Vs. Gedo & Hiromichi Fuyuki (UWF-I vs. WAR 27.05.1996)

This is a typical post Choshu UWF match in that it's very much not UWF-style whatsoever, but instead a daft WAR paced bout. There's a lot of comedy spots: Takayama and co fool around, Fuyuki and co prove that they aren't exactly pushovers, albeit they do cheat....a lot. Taka gets a lot of abuse from the WAR lads in particular at the start after he underestimates them with trash talk and a test of strength bit with Fuyuki (namely because the poor lad can't reach his hand lol) It's a bit dumb seeing Gedo and him do Fujiwara impressions as they exchange headbutts, as well as Anjo landing a apron leg drop (that he instantly regrets afterwards) into a kneebar by Taka to follow up on the momentum. They do try to throw in some kinda shooty elements here and there but it isn't done particularly well despite Anjo and co's attempts.

Speaking of him, Anjo got to show off his more agile stuff as well which was cool to see: he's a lot more capable than you'd think but tends to hide it under his usual antics. Gedo spends most of the middle selling (well more half-ass grunting and moving around) as the lads do a lot of fairly low impact working holds. Anjo blades in the second half and thus we go into the heat segment, which doesn't really get much of a reaction and relies massively on the ref being a complete dumbass in the process as the pair cheat their asses off overtly at many points with weapons and the like. It was very funny watching Fuyuki trolling the guy after all of the trash talk (including just hurling dirty ass underwear around his head) nothing much of note really happens here until he gets too cocky which allows Anjo to stun him with some punches; he's unable to escape his grasp for long though. 

Anjo gets some great color from the blading despite the work done not really matching that at all, not helped by Gedo just up and up missing a moonsault by miles but still trying for the cover. Burton (as 200% Machine, the weird mascot of the Golden Cups) comes in for the interference with some messy double suplexes on the pair before Taka lands a German suplex on Gedo. Anjo finally recovers and applies the Ground Cross 200 hold to the guy for the submission win with Fuyuki arguably demanding he fights him on the outside before leaving.

All in all, a pretty unremarkable match: I'm not a fan of messy WAR-style matches like these. Lot of nothing brawling and some sloppy moves. Gedo and Fuyuki were fine as a heel duo but Anjo as a underdog selling for them? Hard to really get behind, and the crowd were mostly lukewarm to this. Takayama honestly does not a ton beyond his usual strikes and German suplex. A nothing match, really, and went on for far too long (this was about 18 minutes!) this could've been trimmed down very easily and got really slow in the middle. I suppose if you want a breather from the intense shoot-style so far it works and the comedy does work in places, it's just not very well put together.

RANK: Forgettable

 

W/ Yoji Anjo & Kenichi Yamamoto Vs. Gedo/Jado & Hiromichi Fuyuki (UWF-I Vs. WAR Tosen 07.06.1996)

This is cut to 9 minutes of the original 20 off the only existing footage of this event which I'm not annoyed about because I've never been a fan of these goofy Golden Cup/WAR pairings and adding in more people doesn't help things. This has a ton of small clips throughout but generally keeps coherency. The trio ambush the WAR guys before the bell and beat down on Fuyuki for ages, with him predictively blading. There's no shoot-style to be found here at all: Yamamoto slaps on a full exposed cross armbreaker and nothing happens, the guy just sits in it until Gedo kicks him out of the hold, which tells you how little it is valued here.

There's some decent work from the trios when they aren't just heat-seeking with messy brawling and working holds, through but that didn't really happen here a ton. Half of the match is the individual WAR members getting broken apart with outside work while the trio just keep beating up Fuyuki outside the ring endlessly. Gedo/Jado work fine as a underdog pair under fire and without their main man to assist they have to pull for any advantage possible. Fuyuki's frantic yelling and Terry Funk-lite scrambles when he does recover are also solid as he has to salvage what's left of his consciousness when he isn't getting beat down by the Golden Cups trio outside, especially with Anjo's mean brawling and sheer malice at points with his kicks. 

Fuyuki making his big comeback to a good pop was a lot of fun as well as he walks through Anjo with a lariat and lands a trio-powerbomb on Takayama and co. Yamamoto is the rookie so he has to job, through he's able to survive dual splashes from Gedo/Jado as well as surviving a Stretch Plum from Fuyuki. We get a real nasty inverted Gordbuster by the trio before Yamamoto eventually taps out to a figure four. I don't like the brawling style of this and the clips definitely don't help with that chaotic structure. There's some good work in here throughout and most of the people here get chances to show off their stuff but at the same time it's way too jumbled to be very effective so it's just a blur of stuff happening. 

The crowd liked it and it was obvious that the WAR lads thrive under such a messy environment but I just didn't see anything amazing out of the UWF-I guys outside of Anjo being himself and some good strikes from Yamamoto. Shockingly despite Takayama later being infamous for his messy brawls with the likes of Misawa, Suwama and many more, he just doesn't really shine when it comes to this style at the moment. I'm willing to say this was the best match out of the WAR/Golden Cup feud though. 

 RANK: Decent

 

W/ 200% Machine/Burton Vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Arashi (UWF-I Scramble Wars 26.06.1996)

This is decent enough as a WAR-paced brawl, but shoot style it definitely fucking isn't. Tenryu and co get ambushed before the bell as he's able to beat up Machine with his typical boots and strikes, leading to a pretty stiff strike exchange between Takayama and Tenryu: it's certainly not clean and it most assuredly isn't very organised either, with Taka just stumbling around at points and trying to no sell (and failing, because Tenryu is most definitely not holding any punches back lol). 

That being said, it's a lot of fun and establishes the pace right away as not being conventional. 200%/Burton works fine enough with Arashi, even if he's by far the weakest link of the match, even more-so than the evermore disappointing Arashi. He's not terrible (even manages to squeeze in some stuff like a cross armbreaker) but Arashi's attempt in blending into the environment just makes Tenryu's refusal to engage most of the time even more noticeable. Burton spends the match as basically the heater as Taka frails around and gets mad at the pair beating him down. Second part of the match is Taka and co beating down on Arashi with holds and strikes: lot of pretty basic action for the most part that doesn't really kick beyond third gear. 200% Machine gets his ass beat with a belly to belly and a vicious German.

Taka breaks up a pin and Tenryu responds with a big lariat to knock him down, leading Tenryu to easily get the win with a dodgy back elbow drop (barely looked like it hit) kneeling Enzuigiri and second running lariat for the win. This is a match that sadly is built to tease something we never get: a singles match between Takayama and Tenryu, which would've been awesome. 

This never occurs due to a whole mix of factors, but it ultimately makes this match as a whole pretty much just filler beyond the few times both lads get to scrap with each other. Burton/Machine is functional as the fall-guy of the Golden Cups but he gives nothing interesting here and Arashi is as mediocre as usual. Maybe watch this if you are a fan of messy shoot/pro-wrestling style clashes, I guess. The main issue was that a good few people were really putting on the brakes and not giving much of a inch here, especially Tenryu: while I still love the guy it's REALLY obvious he just doesn't care about this match and sticks to the basics. Takayama definitely gives a lot more and leaves a good impression despite losing. 

RANK: Forgettable

 

Vs Kimo (UWF-I Mid-Summer In Jingu 17.08.1996)

........ok this requires some explanation. Kimo Leopoldo is a legitimate MMA fighter mostly known for making all sorts of shit up about himself and being one of the first "personalities" of the sport, being well known despite his shoddy record. Despite this being billed as a "UWF-I" event with worked matches on the card this wasn't a worked fight whatsoever and you can tell that by two things: the massive hardway gash Taka gets in this fight and the length: barely a minute long. Kimo basically tackles the guy to the ground and slaps the shit out of him, pulls his hair for leverage when he tries to escape from half-guard and manages to get on the back of Taka before inevitably choking him out. Kimo post-fight does give Taka credit in that he hits hard, which will foreshadow a good few things to come in his career. 

It's literally not a worked fight so I can't really judge it by any measure. Maybe the UWF-I were starved for big names but this was a near-perfect premonition of how future MMA matches with UWF-I talent (Anjo, Takada, etc) would pan out. 

RANK: ???

 

Vs. Toshiaki Kawada (UWF-I Sudden Death ~ 5th Anniversary Special Performance Final 11.09.1996)

While many people know of their AJPW rivalry, this was the match that started everything, including Takayama's interest in joining the promotion. This was pretty damn hard to find as almost all official copies of this have this match omitted: probably because of rights issues. I didn't know these guys had a match before their later AJPW rivalry together so I was curious as to how this plays out. This ONLY exists as a original fan recording with muffled sound and fairly bad quality, so it feels like you are watching a arthouse film more than a actual wrestling match as the whole thing plays out with a green filter. This starts off incredibly as Kawada doesn't clean break after pinning Takayama in the corner, boots him in the face, and Taka has his "you motherfucker" wild eyes face afterwards and just stares him down for a minute or so. Tense as anything. 

They battle over a headlock and Taka tries using his strength to push Kawada down, but he's able to use that momentum against him and wrestles the guy to the mat first. They go into slap fights after that with Kawada taking Taka's back and hitting him with elbows to open him up for a rear naked choke: when he tries to escape this, Kawada pulls him downwards into his signature kicks and tries for a backdrop, but Takayama manages to snap him away from that position into his own choke: he tries to dislodge away with a arm drag as Taka keeps hold even when they hit the mat, forcing him to rope break. The start firmly establishes that Kawada can hold his own however can only do so much in these conditions.

Taka tries for his own kicks but Kawada awesomely catches his kick and takes him down, going for just stomping his face to force him to roll over into a single leg Boston Crab. Taka reaches for the ropes and takes over in stand-up, using his knees to floor Kawada and attempts to apply his signature cross armbreaker, Kawada pre-empts that and rolls him up mid move to apply his own which does end up successful until the ropes are hit. They struggle a bit as Kawada goes for his kicks again and Taka takes him down, with both struggling on the mat as Taka applies a Achilles Tendon hold until he has to break away due to Kawada booting him in the face consistently. 

He tries to put on a brave face as Taka is kicking him but sells a roundhouse to the head excellently, flopping to the mat for a knockdown. Taka follows it up with his German, Kawada expertly blocks the impact to the floor and hurls big kicks and a backdrop before Taka also no sells and counters a Gamengiri, going for a brutal big boot. Kawada plays possum to act like he's weakened but then hits four Gamengiri shots in a row to finally put down the big man, with each slowly taking him off his feet until a final shot puts him down for the count. 

All in all, pretty well done. Kawada obviously isn't the most well adapted to this environment and that plays into his style here: he focuses more on his signature bombs and attempts to hit submissions usually aren't particularly effective. He is mostly assuredly a fish out of water and focuses in on that by using what he does know (namely his kicks) as tools to aid him in escaping the things that he's simply not very good at. That said, Kawada has always been the best out of the Pillars when it comes to making technical work look interesting (I mean Kobashi has that one good technical match with Johnny Smith.....) and this is good proof of that. He's not GREAT per-se but he knows how to balance grappling with strikes for a unique experience. Takayama showed great chemistry and looked incredibly convincing as the more dangerous and seasoned opponent. Lots of fun and a breeze to go though.

RANK: Great

 

Vs. Masahito Kakihara (UWF-I UWF Road 30.09.1996)

One thing I appreciate from this match is the fact that the lads actually commit to stand-up work here: it's not just 30 seconds of sloppy slapboxing before someone snaps a takedown or whatever, they spend a good few minutes just trading leg kicks and the occasional slap or two. Eventually Kakihara fakes out a grapple with a hard roundhouse and some face slaps for a early flush knockdown. They go into some decent back-and-forth mat work as Kakihara hones in on leg locks and they both manage to squeeze in rope breaks on the other with kneebars despite struggling to escape.

Taka runs in for some fairly wiffy knees until Kakihara starts stumbling, allowing Taka to roll into a weird toe hold attempt. I didn't like Kakihara being stuck in a fully extended Achilles Tendon hold and then not tapping which made Taka have to go for goofy slaps to the head instead. The lads struggle on side control until Taka lands a flush German suplex and gets into a single leg Boston Crab and then into a almost Cena-level STF (seriously, this didn't look great) but Kakihara makes up for that with a great sliding cross armbreaker for another rope break after he escapes. 

Kakihara lands some blocked high kicks and Taka does his stumble routine with some wiffed knees of his own and a bad kick until he gets taken down again. I do like the part where Kakihara slides in for a sprawled takedown and ends up in a nasty neck crank when Taka manages to shove his forearm in his face while twisting his body: looked fairly creative while looking pretty gnarly, basically Misawa's version but far more painful looking. Taka tries for a cross armbreaker from back mount which is smartly worked into another kneebar mid-transition. They work up to Taka trying for a toe hold while standing up but he gets blasted by the exposed leg left over and gets rocked with some roundhouses when he gets knocked back on his knees. The second half has more stand-up work as Taka spams knees and kicks and tries for his big bombs as Kakihara smartly reverses a second Everest German into a kneebar.

This leads into Kakihara squeezing out the last of the rope breaks with more submissions, however stand-up buggers him again as Taka just keeps laying on knees until he just kind of shoves him over. He baits Kakihara into thinking he's going for a leg lock by grabbing his right leg before going into a cross armbreaker for the win: the exact same way he lost last year to Yamazaki. Not great, but I think this works at the end of the day for a protracted fight. Kakihara has a lot of tricky work and is generally solid in all aspects of shoot-style, so he can guide the more inconsistent Taka to something real solid.

Speaking of him, while the mat-work was fine enough and immensely improved from basically everything else thus far, I felt like he was especially sloppy strike-wise: a lot of missed or just not very convincing blows here, namely because he has to commit to either knees that he pulls back a lot or wild slaps. Urgency when escaping holds was fairly lax so this definitely didn't have a lot of realism, working more as a more lighter/less strict shoot-contest. I still liked it a lot though.

RANK: Good

 

Vs. Kazushi Sakuraba (UWF-I UWF Road 20.11.1996)

They only show a digest version of this so only 8 minutes are left intact of the original 13 with small cuts made for downtime. I never actually knew these two fought before Saku left shoot-style and given this is way at the end of the UWFI's tenure, it's not shocking that this is trying to get the man over slightly as they were starved for native stars at this point and NEEDED to get these lads over so they both look good here despite Saku being a undercard guy for a long while. 

Match itself is pretty good, actually. Saku works his submissions well and Taka also works his advantages well, looming over his opponent with knee strikes and slaps whenever. That's basically the dynamic of the entire match as they go back and forward with Saku hunting down Taka at points with real sharp, real smooth holds and transitions, at times blindingly fast. Taka sells the predicament really well on his end, screwing his face up and playing things defensively to avoid getting caught, hanging around near the ropes and using his knees to counter any big takedown attempts rather than risk sprawling. Saku gets in his own shit on the striking with well-timed counters, roundhouses, and even wacky dropkicks.

Speaking of wacky, the guy manages to counter a cross armbreaker into a Scorpion Death Lock, which was awesome if only because it's something Saku would absolutely pull out for shits and giggles in a real fight. Saku also has some great underdog babyface fire near the end as he fires off against Taka and has to stumble around to survive his knee shots and try to nab the win quick despite the immense disadvantage, stuck in the corner and literally just throwing for the fences. 

Eventually, of course, his dreams get shattered after Taka lands a big slap to the face to stun him, goes into a thunderous German Suplex before finishing things off with a kneebar while he's dazed and confused. As stated, this is a real solid outing that has both men work to their strengths: Saku as a clever mat-worker that eventually has to resort to strikes to peel Taka off the ropes as the size difference is just too much to handle; Taka as a established bruiser with hard strikes and lackluster grappling, yet eventually outmatches the young challenger when he figures out his gameplan. It's not long but VERY well paced and lots of fun to watch as a late UWF-I outing. 

RANK: Great

 

Vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara VI (UWF-I UWF Road 23.11.1996)

This is cut down to about 7 minutes of the original 10 minute runtime, mostly the cuts are between moments of downtime or counts. Anyway, these two have faced off countless times: this is the last time they will meet in the UWF, with them having a final battle in the very short lived KINGDOM promotion. The match works around the typical (some might say overused) Taka is better at standup/Kanehara is better at mat-work dynamic they always have had but at this point they are very well evenly matched and Taka isn't so easy to break down as he was in prior years so Kanehara has to really struggle for advantage.

Kanehara's strikes are also fairly decent, but Taka can use his size to loom over and snipe his head with knees and slaps while he can barely do the same due to the height difference, especially when he closes the distance and practically forces him to go without his roundhouses. There are some slight botches here and there (in particular Taka going for a powerbomb to counter the cross armbreaker but getting the guy 2 inches off the ground instead, which was really quite embarrassing) everything is fairly smooth and performed convincingly enough otherwise.

Taka takes full control in the second half and just keeps blasting Kanehara with knees to the head over and over alongside submissions but Kanehara is able to eventually use his aggression against him by getting Taka between his legs in guard position and timing his angry slap strikes into a Omoplata position, wrapping his trapped arm and rolling into what is essentially Danielson's Yes/LeBell Lock with a few extra steps for the seamless submission win. 

Unlike other bouts between the two this one makes it well aware that Taka has Kanehara's number throughout and is well versed to his style by this point: while Kanehara could torment the guy on the mat before, now he's having such a hard time that he ends up in submissions himself more often than not and it's well articulated here all the way to the finish which is built around Taka overextending due to that new-found confidence on the mat. He works well from that position and shows off a lot of well-timed aggression alongside fairly strong mat-defence: his stuff has never been great on that front but Kanehara works a good dynamic with him there and makes him look pretty strong, and it helps that Takayama has legitimately improved a lot compared to prior years with his transitions looking quicker and his submissions being a lot more convincing. It's not their best bout together, probably their best constructed and least sloppy though.

RANK: Good

 

Vs. Kenichi Yamamoto II (UWF-I UWF Road X 25.12.1996)

Golden Cups civil war here as these two once again face off. What really works about this match is how it's very clearly a sprint and doesn't really pretend otherwise about it, both guys just start swinging right away. Takayama tries slowing things down with knees as the scrappy youngster isn't having any of it and keeps putting on pressure before Taka gets dazed and they tease him bumping for a Dragon Suplex. He resists but Yamamoto quickly goes for a super low-brow German suplex instead, which Taka no sells and charges into the guy for some head slaps and a kneebar attempt.

More slappy stand-up into Yamamoto getting a takedown of his own into side mount. He tries to pull for something but Taka uses his legs to dislodge him and then catches the guy in a rolling cross armbreaker when he tries to escape back mount, forcing a rope break. Taka lands more heavy knees that don't all look great but work for how he's just using them to control things rather than a big knockout. Yamamoto keeps hammering with big stiff slaps to the face until Takayama tries for his own big fancy jumping knees to the head which inevitably get countered and caught. His opponent goes into a deep single Boston Crab which Taka just sells awesomely for, gritting his teeth and practically screaming. He doesn't use the ropes here interestingly enough; instead back kicking the inner thigh, forcing him to drop the hold.

Takayama runs in with a rugby push before landing a jumping knee into Fujiwara armbar, forcing the tap out. Yamamoto looks gutted in the aftermath as he just kneels down and looks at the ground for a bit. Really decent little match here that manages to throw a surprising amount of intensity for something as short as this, with some good strikes and basic but effective mat-work. 

RANK: Good

 

Vs. Nobuhiko Takada (UWF-I UWF Road Z/Final 27.12.1996)

Interestingly this is the final match ever of the promotion and the end of the UWF brand. Takada is incredibly close to his quick retirement from shoot-style in general (outside of some loose dates here and there) and would be moving on to his actual MMA ambitions (which would be a terrible idea as it tanked his reputation and status completely despite him being a draw). This shows why that is the case more or less as Takada is completely outclassed by his younger and more hungry counterpart. Takada mostly sticks to a pretty boring gameplan: ground Taka with stiff kicks, hold him in side-mount for what seems like forever.....hope something happens afterwards. 

His defensive style means that a good portion of the start is just both men doing pretty much nothing on the mat and stalling for time. Even when Taka gives up his back to escape Takada's wangling for holds, he does nothing in response; which seemed pretty silly. Eventually they start gearing up for bigger things as Takada slaps on a few submissions here and there with the match especially picking up after a smooth backdrop from him into cross armbreaker. Taka keeps up the intensity with his usual charging around alongside his signature knee shots: after he catches Takada's leg after a few kicks, he's able to respond with a flush roundhouse to the face, which knocks him down.

Taka also scrambles for a cross armbreaker for a very close rope break. This leads into Takada taking the lead with kicks before another Taka rushdown into a somewhat sandbaggy German suplex. There's a good spot where he counters a cross armbreaker and manages to roll Takada up, landing some stiff slaps to distract him enough to grab for a kneebar. He tries this trick again when Takada escapes and steps into another armbreaker attempt but this time his opponent is ready for him as he's able to counter his single leg Boston Crab, grabbing his ankle and disrupting his balance. This leads into a successful cross armbreaker at last which gives Takada the win.

This gets good after a very slow build-up, but Takayama is the guy putting in most of the actual exciting elements, terestingly enough. We get a very basic Takada performance which while solid enough as a mat wrestler and in terms of strikes, never really came across like he was the "ace" of the promotion: he seemed pretty passive all in all and relied a lot on countering Takayama than actually pushing the initiative. I've seen a lot better out of the guy as this seemed like a low-point in terms of quality; he seemed checked out by this point and firmly focused on his MMA stuff. As such, this match at times tends to lack agency and slows down a lot. It's these issues and more that would make this the final match of the UWF franchise, ending on a good but rather bitter note. 

RANK: Good

===========

Thus ends the legacy of the UWF and begins the establishment of Kingdom as a unofficial successor. How will Takayama do in a new promotion with new rules, new opponents (ish) and as a top act?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ma Stump Puller]

1997

==========

Vs. Caribou Mandingo (Kingdom Birth Step 1 04.05.1997)

The first event of Kingdom firmly establishes the new order by having Anjo and Takayama get top billing on the card, as well as winning their respective matches. While Anjo would beat Kakihara, Taka would be paired up against a obscure kickboxer that's so obscure that there's literally zero information on the guy apart from the fact that he showed up here. He's a tall dude as well, about 6'6, making this one of the few matches Taka has had where he's not the tallest man in the ring. 

This works like a regular kickboxer/wrestler match in that Mandingo sticks to purely stand-up with strikes and kicks (one major difference in Kingdom was that closed fists were allowed, so no more sloppy slap fights) while Takayama tries for his own while closing the distance whenever he can. This is firmly established early on as Taka manages to clinch and then trip over his opponent to very quickly get into full mount, of which Mandingo turtles up to escape. Taka tries for a cross armbreaker but instead settles for a nicely done triangle armbar, which gets broken up with some punches.

Mandingo isn't a great striker but he pulls out some stuff to impress the crowd and he can convincingly dodge and check Taka's punches and kicks for this to work. The latter in question looks a lot better throwing punches than clumsy slaps and in general seems far more confident on the mat (probably because Mandingo has next to nothing on that front so they can just sit around and not do a whole lot). That said, he doesn't have much technique and settles to just throw random haymakers most of the time. There's some nonsense in the second half as Mandingo throws illegal punches to a grounded Taka while he's standing up, as well as holding onto the ropes when stuck in a clinch; not sure if he didn't know the rules or if this was done to try to get some heat for this.

The last minute or so has Taka eat a knockdown to a good crowd reaction. He takes some body shots and sells well, setting up the finish which has him bait Mandingo into throwing one too many body kicks by catching his leg and going for a loose capture suplex before flopping into a kneebar for the win. I get what they were going for here given the K-1 was immensely popular at the time, but this really felt like a sloppy brawl between two guys who didn't really have much of a idea going in about how this was going to look like: the first half is fine enough but the second is dominated by endless clinches and some sloppy work, not helped by Takayama gassing up near the end. Mandingo is fine as a non-wrestling opponent but very one-dimensional. There's way better versions of this fight (Funaki/Maurice Smith) out there that you should be watching over this.

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Masahito Kanehara II (Kingdom Birth Step 2 20.06.1997)

Inoki and Ogawa show up during the start of this: not sure if this was going to lead to anything down the line with these two in particular but it's something to note. I really liked how this showcased Kingdom's stand-up as drastically different than most shoot-style promotions: the closed fists mean that guys like Taka get a great reach advantage that Kakihara can't just walk into like he would if they were only allowed to throw slaps, so he's forced to work on the outside and rush in sparingly. 

Taka completely controls Kakihara's back using his knee to block transitions alongside ground and pound to dislodge him into a cross armbreaker which is naturally blocked and rolled away from. It's interesting to see how Taka takes the lead on the mat mostly as Kakihara has to just brave through his punches alongside some nasty submissions, resulting in Taka just screaming in his face while trying for a dramatic toe-hold. It's a lot more engaging than you'd expect and I think that combined with solid defence by Kakihara gets some great drama out of things, especially the bit where Taka's side mount keeps getting pushed back by Kakihara throwing his legs up until he can unbalance the guy and snap on a very fast armbreaker for a false finish tease. Loved the crowd mimicking Taka's grunts and screams throughout as well as a goofy side-gig to everything else going on.

Taka does fine mostly on top bar some stupid moments (like him trying for a German suplex and still attempting to do so despite Kakihara grabbing for a kneebar....he just sorta lets it happen despite having plenty of time to do something about it) and stand-up is immensely chaotic as Kakihara throws some mean hooks and kicks that do connect half the time. Finish comes after Taka throws some clinch knees into a belly to belly, going smoothly into a side mount head choke for the win. Good action with a strong performance from Taka on the mat as he dominates proceedings: this is partly a negative because Kakihara is so good and he gets a lot less to work with here as he's mostly sitting under his opponent, which I feel like wasn't the best utilization of his capabilities. Strong intensity alongside a pace that never really gets too slow or bogged down in details makes this a solid outing.

RANK: Good

 

Vs. Naoki Sano III (Kingdom Birth Step 3 29.07.1997)

Be prepared to see these two face off a lot, because Sano becomes the go-to guy for Taka here. The early sections of this focus around Taka landing some great strikes to stun Sano early, including knees to the head and a thunderous jumping shot to knock him down and take a point away. Sano in response focuses in on mat-work, namely using it to control Taka and throw on some submissions. For the two it's as per standard and not really anything to be particularly interested in bar some smooth transitions and Taka throwing out some unconventional holds to keep on top of his smaller opponent. 

The stand-up stuff is a bit messy and not a lot of stuff lands clean but the crowd seemed to enjoy Sano land his signature Savate kicks alongside Taka trying to keep up but getting blasted for his troubles. They tease the German from Taka but Sano blocks it by giving up his back and going to the mat. We get a Sakuraba-lite moment as Sano uses the back mount as bait to catch Taka's arm for a double wrist lock attempt but he's able to roll around and defuse the hold before he can get a proper lock on it. Taka lands a tame knee to get a German suplex off for a knockdown, which looked fairly impressive.

They build up the tension by having Sano run around a bit to recover while his opponent chases with strikes, getting him into a clinch in order to snap on a surprise Fujiwara armbar for a rope break by Taka. This turns out to be the critical point of the match as Taka's arm is hurt and he can't swing with it afterwards, allowing Sano to work on it with kicks until he lands a incredibly impressive delayed belly to belly into a cross armbreaker, forcing Taka to waste another break (given Kingdom only had a 5 point system for breaks and knockdowns, the tension is a lot more palpable than the UWF-I 20 point system) He tries to mount a big attack with the one arm and his knees, but Sano quickly gets a big judo throw and a second armbreaker on fully, getting the tap-out victory.

This is probably the best out of the Sano/Takayama Kingdom series of matches, namely because it balances mat-work with a lot of decent stand-up stuff, mostly from Sano. Taka's strikes mostly don't look particularly convincing and he struggles to make them look good while not blasting the guy with actual stiff shots. The mat-work is engaging and definitely has some nuance with Sano confidently running through Taka's usual bag of tricks and consistently keeping on defence until he's able to slowly work him down with kicks and solid grappling counters. It's done well and I think the two definitely get over the David/Goliath dynamic here, especially given Taka is one of the best when it comes to using his looming size and physicality to make his stuff feel a lot more impactful. Good fun if you can block out the sloppy striking.

RANK: Good

 

Vs. Shunsuke Matsui (Kingdom Birth Tour '97 22.08.1997)

Better known as Daijiro Matsui, immensely stubborn PRIDE jobber, Matsui also had a long history as a infrequent wrestler; mostly showing up in shoot-style promotions and whatnot. He still wrestles even today here and there. This is mostly just a squash match though as Matsui shoots early for a takedown and Takayama sprawls by laying on top of him until he's able to get him down on the mat. Despite Matsui's consistent attempts to get Taka into half guard and into a cross armbreaker Taka is consistently able to block and use his size to weigh down the smaller lad. 

Eventually he gives up his back to try to escape, which proves to be his undoing as his opponent manages to catch his arm to expose the guy for a easy rear naked choke attempt for the quick finish. Nothing much to note here: it's a quick mat-based squash that shows off Taka's skills. Matsui does fine for what little he actually does here but at the end of the day this is just a unremarkable quick match designed so that his opponent doesn't get gassed up for the longer match he has later on tonight. Not bad but I wouldn't be searching this out. 

RANK: Forgettable 

 

Vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara VII (Kingdom Birth Tour '97 22.08.1997)

A rivalry that has been going on for 5 years finally comes to a head here as Taka and co face off in the semi-finals of this random one night tournament. I really liked the beginning sequences on the mat as the two square up and try to nab submissions: Kanehara spinning around to try to maintain a double wrist lock attempt especially was a highlight as Taka keeps using side-mount leverage to disengage with any big attempts at submissions and keep steady control over things while he works for his own stuff. 

Taka tries for some kneebars and toe-holds but those are also equally rolled out of or blocked. Eventually these two default to the typical formula of Taka being more dangerous in stand-up while his opponent is better on the floor: we get a lot of Taka throwing punches and knees alongside some rough throws while Kanehara tries toppling the bigger man with low takedowns and patiently waiting for the chance to snap on something solid. He eventually does after some more side mount control after taking Taka's back and going for a rear naked choke, which is somehow escaped. Regardless, Kanehara gets on full mount and basically hits some strikes to bait Taka into getting his arms out of the way so he's incapable of blocking his cross armbreaker which gets the submission win.

Not particularly great: both men don't really bring the fire that their older matches have, mainly because Kanehara will have to work yet another match after this so they probably wanted to keep this short and sweet. The issue is that there's a lot of times here where the action is really lacking and it's more sitting around in neutral positions and wangling for holds: not terrible but it's not something either man can make incredibly interesting either, despite some good throws and natural aggression from two guys who know each other immensely well at this point. If you like smart mat-work you'll get something out of this, but I would still maintain that the match is by far one of the weaker Kanehara/Takayama matchups, especially given this is the last time they'll face off against the other.

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Billy Scott II (Kingdom Prelude For The World 03.09.1997)

Billy Scott is one of the better UWFI foreign talent and he's been given a fair push in Kingdom as someone matched up with some big deal talent, including here. The starting sequence is well done as Scott gets down to the mat almost at once and initially has trouble with Taka's side mount antics until he blocks around a cross armbreaker attempt and manages to slap on a solid kneebar, forcing a early rope escape. We get some frantic and stiff punches from the pair in stand-up until Taka takes over with a front headlock roll to the mat and back into side mount, putting all of his weight on Scott's head via a head/arm lock which forces a break from Scott in turn.

We get more good scrappy stand-up as they pair just throw hands at each other and try for holds. I'm not the biggest fan of Scott's Joshi-lite selling where he's just screaming every time Taka slaps a hold on. It adds some tension when used right but when it's virtually every single time a hold is applied even half-properly it tends to be rather grating and almost melodramatic. Good bit near the end where Taka lands multiple knees to the gut but Scott manages to grab on to his leg and go for his signature deep Dragon Screw into Single Leg Boston Crab, which got the Korakuen crowd buzzing. While this finished Taka before, in true Kings Road style he manages to escape this time.

The latter half has Scott's consistent (and one dimensional) need to shoot for takedowns be massively punished by his opponent, who manages to throw knees and sprawls to punish him with multiple holds. Despite his best attempts, eventually Taka gets a good gutwrench suplex out of one into a double wrist lock, which forces the tap out. A strong outing that has Billy Scott get the crowd behind him with his gutsy approach alongside some intense sequences on the mat.

Taka takes the lead mostly when it comes to just sitting on top of him but I think Scott gets a good bit out of the large lad, especially in the stiff stand-up stuff where he kinda had to be stiff alongside his opponent or just look really bad in the process, resulting in some entertaining slugfests. It's not mindblowing or anything but I'd definitely say this is better than their last outing, namely because Taka has really improved in the years prior to this. These two work solid together and it results in a great example of how good Kingdom's shorter more mat-based focus could produce quality stuff. 

RANK: Great

 

Vs. Naoki Sano IV (Kingdom New World 03.11.1997)

I think this says a lot about how rough Kingdom (and shoot-style promotions in general) were at the time when this UWFI undercard rematch is one of the bigger deals here. I do like the greater focus on stand-up as it allows Taka to really hone in on the stuff that suits him; his punches and knees specifically. Taka tries bullying Sano early to stop him hurling out leg kicks by rushing into clinches for knee shots but he gets blasted with some hard punches of his own and has to back down.

Sano does some fairly meh work on the mat using side control and working for arm and head locks until Taka rolls him over for a big pop, but they both also fumble around with missed submissions (Sano with a triangle armbar and Taka with a kneebar) but later on Taka works a really smart bit on the mat where Sano tries leaning his knee onto Taka's leg (which was a classic Fujiwara dirty trick) who manages to grab Sano's exposed foot for a potential toe-hold, but he fumbles and Sano grabs one instead for a rope break.

Sano adds some of his badassery as he just no sells a Achilles Tendon hold: him merely shaking his head and staring at the guy is enough for the crowd to pop off. Sano doesn't quite escape quite as easily as he makes it out and showcases some rare frustration by landing a illegal heel shot while stuck. Eventually Taka gets out-leveraged after a roll and he has to drop another rope break.

The finish is fairly explosive as Taka runs in for knees, Sano tries dropping down again to get on the mat but gets caught in a VERY loose triangle choke after his takedown, conceding the win to his opponent. A fairly good match once it gets going but this really doesn't play to Sano's strengths as a worker, instead making him sit around on the mat a ton which isn't too helpful. He's not bad there but he's certainly not someone who can guide someone like Taka to something amazing either (as much as he has improved, I wouldn't say he can make these kind of matches extraordinarily impressive) Sano adds some of his signature tough personality to this to really give it a boost in the latter half but you have to get through some fairly middling stuff first. That said, a decent showing that has Takayama throw some surprisingly half-decent mat IQ moves out.

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Kenichi Yamamoto III (Kingdom Birth Tour '97 15.11.1997)

Given the immense size and mass difference between the two, this was really only going to go the same way it has the last two times over. That doesn't mean Yamamoto's not gonna give it socks though, especially given the very fast paced starting work that has the two bounce from hold to hold as he tries working on the mat to neutralise his natural advantages. Taka isn't nearly as fast or as versatile as his opponent is but he can work the slower bruiser as great as usual and gets over that with some clubbing blows alongside some brute strength to escape some attempts at submissions. 

Vast majority of this takes place in one singular mat-exchange give or take: a unique format but one that works here given the context of both participants. Yamamoto works as the scrappy underdog as he consistently shoots for takedowns and keeps going forward while Taka tends to take a lot of offence while dishing it out when it matters as well. The mat work is generally quite well done as the two go back and forward from hold to hold, with Yamamoto getting some close clinchers here as he's able to move around a lot faster and get those snappy submissions a lot easier, which Taka having to be more reactive and defending against said attempts. 

They take a rope break off the other with a submission each and stay mostly evenly matched until the finish, which has Yamamoto try to end things with a rear naked choke out of back mount before getting dislodged and thrown over into a cross armbreaker: unlike the other ateempts where Yamamoto either used a break or managed to defend against it this one is fully extended, forcing him to tap fairly fast. A nice short match that manages to throw in a lot of nicely paced mat-work action.

If you aren't a fan of that then you'll probably not get a lot out of this, but for a match that's barely above 5 minutes it squeezes in a ton, and Taka is a good sport who gets over his opponent massively as per the other showings. I don't think it's as sensationally heated and loud as it was for their sprint last year, but mechanically it's the best paced and with the most action to go around. Yamamoto shows a lot of that grappling skill (not just in the holds, but in getting over his attempts at applying them as well) that he'll bring into RINGS next year. 

RANK: Good

 

Vs. Masao Orihara (Kingdom Birth Tour '97 19.11.1997)

Orihara's whole gimmick in Kingdom is that he jobs out to everyone despite his best attempts, so this was never going to last long. I have a fondness for the guy given his interesting style and ability to really work aggression into his matches as shown by some of his greatest hits throughout his career. He tries to be a tough guy shaking Taka's hand but also looks like he really doesn't want to be in the ring whatsoever, which is fair enough.

Orihara does some skipping around before Taka murders him with a body + roundhouse to the head for a knockdown. Orihara gets up but is clearly stunned. His opponent smelling blood in the water runs in and lands some big hooks to knock him down again, which he fails to meet the count for and loses via TKO. A obvious squash but entertaining enough given Takayama's stiff striking. Orihara sells well for the big lad and makes him look like a monster before the action even begins. That said, it's another match I really wouldn't encourage finding unless you are interested in Orihara's Kingdom stint in general.

RANK: Forgettable

 

Vs. Shunsuke Matsui II (Kingdom Birth Tour '97 02.12.1997)

Matsui wants redemption after eating a quick loss the last time. Good news, he doesn't go down as fast! Bad news: he only lasts a minute longer. He lands some hard punches at the start as he sticks and moves until Taka has enough of that shit and gets him down with a nasty scoop slam and tries to take control in side mount before Matsui escapes out of it into the ropes. 

The crowd roar after Matsui manages to meet the count after Taka corners him in the corner and lands knees to the body and head, but it's a premature victory as he gets stuck in another Taka clinch and takes multiple stiff knee shots, though they do pop for him throwing a hard right hook at Taka despite the damage taken already. He eventually falls to a shot to the gut but once again gets up and then gets put down with a very hard shot to the stomach. They tease Matsui giving up at this point but he manages to meet the count again. Despite Matsui's crazy endurance and him screaming like a maniac, his body eventually gives out after more knees and a brutal boot to the head while he's falling down. 

Post-match has Matsui be taken out on a stretcher probably for the last shot which seemed 100% accidental. We get a zoom-in on his face as blooded gums and teeth can be shown. The match itself isn't particularly amazing workrate-wise outside of it being a good showing for Matsui as the underdog: his shaking hands and uncertain style of consistent movement alongside frenzied punching make him a natural climber who's clearly afraid but still capable of throwing shots until his soul leaves him. Takayama in response plays the perfect big man here, looming over and consistently finding ways to make the scrappy guy dig deep, especially in the second half when he's just spamming knees for what feels like forever: it's intentionally one-dimensional to fool the audience into finding Matsui will eventually pull off a miracle.....but it never happens. 

Brilliant stuff. It's not going to be for everyone but I thought it was a damn solid outing for a sub-3 minute match.

RANK: Great

 

Vs. Masahito Kakihara III (Kingdom Birth Tour '97 08.12.1997)

Kakihara wants revenge after Taka beat him the first time. We get good starting work as both men land heavy stiff shots, with Taka in particular landing a nasty right hook that forces Kakihara down to the mat. The two go back and forward as Taka's aggressive style allows him to keep on top of his opponent, eventually forcing a rope escape after a sneaky kneebar. The bit after this is also really strong as the two blitz on the mat with numerous transitions involving with Taka slapping on a rear naked choke, Kakihara flipping himself over to try to dislodge him but Taka keeping his grip and turning it into a side-Bulldog choke instead, which looked great as a sequence. 

Taka exploits his size advantage to lean on the side mount and go for cross armbreakers and when that fails full mount punches, forcing another escape. Kakihara tries his luck with a big stiff straight punch to the jaw of Taka, who no sells and knocks him down with a shot of his own. Kakihara sells a potential back mount choke well as he chokes and tries to protect his neck as best as possible by laying it flat down on the mat. There's some back and forth that isn't mind-blowing for the time but work to get the dynamics of both men over as Taka goes for big impressive throws alongside relentless stand-up while Kakihara sticks to submission-wangling and fast punches and kicks.

Said dynamics both work individually as Kakihara loses escapes through aggressive beatdowns while Taka loses his via smart mat counters and slick holds forcing his hand; pretty easy storytelling but done really well here. The finish is somewhat abrupt as Kakihara manages to tear down Taka with low kicks until he shoots for a leg takedown, allowing him to slap on a tight toe-hold that Taka fails to escape from, forcing him to tap.

I honestly might say this is the best Kingdom match I've seen to date: the mat-work is never too much of a lull and the strikes are mostly sharp and kept to a means to a end rather than padding. The submissions are also REALLY good here as both men pull out some impressive stuff and keep it mostly realistic and not too contrived. While this has slightly less heat than their last match, it's a lot better formatted and Kakihara gets to do a lot more, which is always a highlight. Very solid and a big highlight.

RANK: Great

 

Vs. Naoki Sano V (Kingdom Ambition 14.12.1997)

This is a shorter rethread of the duo's match together last month, only Taka is a lot more assertive on stand-up and really takes charge with some good looking shots. Sano just kinda stands around and takes it: bar him moving around he does next to nothing to defend himself, not even attempting a takedown or clinch or anything, really. Rather than him taking advantage of Taka failing to take him down and exposing his back, he just stands the guy back up and pushes him away.

Sano continues to do virtually nothing for the next few minutes as he dodges shots, moves out of range and just moves his hands around a bit. Taka rushes in with some punches and knees and tries for a double wrist lock, but Sano finally does something and counters, holding side mount. Taka does his "roll out of side mount" spot again into a toe hold which causes a rope break. Sano finally does his signature Savate kick....which immediately gets blasted with punches, thrown into a impressive German suplex and tapped out with a classic UWF 1.0. leg headscissors after Taka teases the double wrist lock again.

Despite the good action in places, this was a really boring bout that screamed "I'm doing the job and I'm not really bothered about it" as Sano spends most of this doing a Floyd Mayweather and ducking and dodging while clearly helping Taka up when he's stuck in bad positions. Zero agency, zero anything. It's not even defence most of the time, it's just him not engaging and consistently doing circles around the ring. I don't really get why this was worked as it was but it just doesn't work here despite Taka doing his best to make the action that happens look impressive. It's just marred by lots of nothing happening but two guys moving around the ring and doing....well, nothing. I can't say that formula is particularly engaging. A depressing end to what was a really good run.

RANK: Forgettable

===========

With Kingdom folding, nearly all of the roster moving onto legitimate MMA promotions like PRIDE and Takayama's AJPW pursuits massively working out for him (he was already part-time at the company and had done multiple dates) he chose to go full-time with the promotion instead of going with everyone else. He would be later joined by Kakihara, whom would form the new version of the Triangle of Power alongside Gary Albright. 

However, Takayama would return to shoot-style......on nostalgia and UWF reunion cards. With years of rust, how will he fare going back to what defined his hard-hitting style in the first place?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ma Stump Puller]

Bonus matches

============

Vs. Yoshiki Takahashi (Hiromitsu Kanehara 20th Anniversary U-SPIRITS 16.11.2011)

Extremely functional as a match. Takahashi is....fine, but far more known for his actual MMA work than his shoot-style stuff for a reason, mostly sticking to it with the very occasional match or two. Takahashi rushes in into a takedown and palm strikes, which legitimately do seem to rattle his opponent when he gets back up. Takayama tries to defend himself on the mat but gets stuck in numerous submissions by his far more experienced foe needing him to use a rope escape to get out of them eventually.

Takahashi makes a mistake in trying to get in close, resulting in Taka throwing out some knees but ultimately getting taken down again. He wrestles into a cross armbreaker set-up but hits the ropes. Takayama teases out a palm strike from Takahashi, allowing him to catch the guy for a weird, half belly to belly throw as a takedown. It looks awkward but he gets some good height off it. He tries for a Boston Crab (really?) but Takahashi hurls him away with his legs in a cartoonish bump.

Lads exchange takedowns, with Takahashi even picking Takayama off his feet and dead-weight pressing him to the mat. The latter uses another rope escape to get out of a tricky Kimura attempt, and quickly loses patience, hurling Takahashi with a nasty belly to belly spike on his head before doing another one into his signature Everest German for the very quick KO win. As expected, Takayama is a lot older at this point: his natural rust and awkwardness he would have even in his prime is still very much there and present, with some sloppy throws and strikes. That said, he still can settle into that natural big man dynamic almost at a whim, and does so here pretty easily. His mat-work was basic but inoffensive. 

Takahashi is fine: he's not particularly great in any avenue but he knows how to grapple and fight for holds alongside some nice strength that you wouldn't expect out of someone who looks like he does. Nothing really spectacular from both men through and they tended to keep this very simplistic until the end, which is fine for tension building but results in a very plain match for the most part beyond the explosive finish. 

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Hikaru Sato (Hiromitsu Kanehara Produce U-SPIRITS Again 09.03.2013)

The two start off with leg kicks, which Taka mostly blocks until he rushes in. Sato flips around and manages to go for a low takedown against the ropes which slowly peels his opponent down to the mat. The first half essentially has Sato get moments of opportunity on the mat but either not pulling for anything or just letting the guy go to get back to more stand-up work.

Eventually Takayama manages to clinch him up on the ropes, giving him enough breathing room to throw the dude around with some big suplexes. He tries for the Everest German but Sato rolls into a kneebar and essentially spams out leg holds to keep control (including a very dramatic ankle lock) but he isn't able to get the tap-out and Taka gets to the ropes. We get more awkward stand-up as Taka just kinda stumbles around eating shots while Sato ends up falling over once or twice until he gets hit with some very light knees.....then Taka just lets him go and they awkwardly don't do much until Sato goes in for a very half-assed takedown, which Taka answers with a club to the back and another light knee for a knockdown.

The finish comes soon after as Taka lands more weird clubs to the back before hitting a big Everest German for the KO win. A weird one for sure: I've seen Hikaru Sato a few times and he's been quite good as a hybrid legit MMA guy who transitioned pretty easily into pro-wrestling. That said, he was undeniably very bland here and seemed more like he wasn't really putting much into this beyond pulling out some decent counters. His leg kicks were very light and didn't really feel like he was trying much with making them look legit. Takayama has some great throws left in him but he's rather slow and awkward, with his strikes also having no real impact to them and his stand-up being shockingly shoddy in places (like wtf was going on with the clubs to the back deal lol)  

Interestingly this is actually on Sato's legit MMA record but anyone with eyes can tell you this wasn't a legitimate shoot and the two don't even bother to hide that fact here; making that result doubly confusing. Definitely worth a skip. 

RANK: Forgettable

 

W/ Golden Cups (Yoji Anjo/Kenichi Yamamoto) Vs. Sanae Kikuta, Minoru Suzuki & Masakatsu Funaki (Yoji Anjo Retirement Show ~ Y.A Is Dead 24.03.2015)

As you can tell by the title this is Anjo's retirement bout and.....yeah he looks rough as hell here. I don't like talking about people's appearances but Funaki for reference is only two years younger but you'd never be able to tell that by comparison. The match is mostly built around the fact that Anjo can't really go at all so he instead has to use his comedic chops and cheat to stand any sort of chance. Him and Suzuki have a good chemistry as they both dick around as well. It's fine for what it's worth but it does start to tire after a bit as Anjo keeps stalling and not engaging. 

Yamamoto gets in some stuff and it's fine for someone who hasn't seriously wrestled in a good few years even if he's clearly not in shape and gasses up after a small exchange with Kikuta. Honestly, Takayama was the best of all three of them as he throws out some good power moves (powering out of a triangle armbar with a powerbomb and hitting a big backdrop, for one) until the middle portion where things get a bit chaotic after Suzuki lashes out at Kikuta for not pulling his weight. Anjo mostly gets worked over for all the bits he's in to hide his inability to work: Suzuki can play up to this as well as he usually can but Funaki has a bit more trouble in that regard, botching some spots and not reading the room; he keeps trying to do legit stuff with Anjo when it's obvious that he's immensely limited. He eventually smarts up and goes for simple strikes instead, namely kicks. 

I will say that Anjo's selling gets pretty good after the first fall, especially when he's just pushing through the pain he's under after a extended kneebar caused him to tap-out for the first fall. More work over his crappy leg results in another tap-out a few minutes after and they tease that being the end of the match until Anjo talks enough shit to will the match to continue into a third fall. Takayama's big hot tag where he just runs through everyone was a lot of fun as he just wrecks the trio with knees, punches, huge ass Albright-inspired belly to belly and butterfly suplexes. Despite all of that and even a random Anjo top rope segment he eventually falls to Suzuki slapping on a rear naked choke into Gotch piledriver for the third and final fall. 

Obviously very much a limited match but for the purposes of this retrospective, I thought Takayama was the most dynamic out of the three and definitely brought a lot of fire into this that was initially lacking a lot in the first half. Anjo obviously is the star of the show in terms of selling and importance, naturally. Funaki and Suzuki are fairly motivated for this and don't just default to generic stuff, which results in a strong dynamic throughout even if the workrate for the most part was rather lacking and slow in places. It's a emotional performance from Anjo, especially in the post-match stuff where he's just struggling not to bawl his eyes out. 

RANK: Good

 

W/ Hiromitsu Kanehara Vs. Ryo Kawamura & Takafumi Ito (Masahito Kakihara Support Show Kaki Aid ~ Moving On 18.05.2015)

There's some minor clipping here to let anyone know, even on the official taping of the event. It's fine enough for a UWF old lads vs Pancrase guys bout as I wasn't exactly hyped up for this but it's just to let anyone know. The match itself is mostly good despite the age of everyone involved here. Takayama at this point can't obviously grapple at all so he opts just to go with his old-school rushing and striking approach instead.

He eats some hard shots from the smaller guys as they duck around and just slap his face off at points. When Ito tries shooting him to the mat he instead gets overpowered into a front face lock and eats a really good-looking Butterfly Suplex for his troubles. The pacing here is pretty frantic and lacks any form of subtlety as the four just throw shit around for 11 minutes, so we get a lot of action where guys are going back and forth in holds and lots of knockdowns early, minimalistic long-term selling and more-so just going from bit to bit rapidly. 

Kanehara is really solid for someone who hasn't worked a proper match in a while, landing good kicks and doing essentially all of the heavy lifting when it comes to mat-work, which while obviously antiquated by.....a fair bit still shows a lot of that flair he had in his UWF-I prime. The best way I could describe the pacing here is a "shoot-style spotfest" as it's just tons of big work followed by a tag, followed by more frantic shit. The Pancrase guys do fine with what they are given and make the older guys look good with their fatigue selling and knockdowns. I did love some of their stuff here, namely when Ito rolls Taka into a cross armbreaker Kashin-style and Ryo's roundhouses to Kanehara, which were naturally still stiff as anything despite his age. Takayama eventually has enough of Ito's shit in the corner and hurls the guy around after countering a second cross armbreaker roll with a big side-slam, following up with a terrifying German suplex that ends the match.

There's zero story and definitely nothing going for long-term effect, it's just a lot of stuff flying at you at a brisk pace. It works here given the older guys probably couldn't work a longer match and gives a good excuse to instead see lots of intense stand-up and stiff shots. I thought this was a good watch and definitely had everyone on the ball here: even a massively out of prime Takayama can deliver when the settings are right, and these were indeed those right settings. 

RANK: Good

 

Vs. Ryo Kawamura (Hard Hit Yama Vs. Kama 28.02.2016)

To my knowledge this is the last shoot-style match Takayama would have in his career. I think the main issue this has is that it's very slow and seems consistently stuck in third gear. There's some decent back and forth slaps and kicks; nothing omega stiff but fine enough for back and forth work. The main issue with this is the general setting: the sound quality makes everything feel light as anything, even the big throws that Taka manages to hit feel like a light mattress by comparison to the other showings above.

There's a surprisingly decent bit of mat-work in that Taka works on the top: nothing very good at all given his slowness but I think the two have a decent back and forward, even if it is mostly just filler to pad this out a bit. They trade transitions and Kawamura manages to get a submission or two for rope breaks. Eventually the second half has Taka go to his knees, despite Kawamura's attempts to hold his legs down or block his stuff in clinches he still eats some knockdowns. 

The finish has Takayama just go to the knees consistently with Kawamura answering with slaps until he goes for a Everest German for the KO win. Not much to note here: this is about the same quality as a undercard UWF-I match minus the mat-work. Kawamura is fine enough as a opponent but his best qualities (his mat-work) aren't really able to be fully focused on here, meaning they mostly focus on slap-fights and somewhat stilted sequences when it came to the action. If you wanna see Taka just throw someone around, there's better to be watching. 

 RANK: Forgettable

 

============

Well, that's it! I hope you've enjoyed reading. This Deep Dive has given me a newfound respect for Takayama's work as we see him progress from a rather iffy undercard act who struggled at the basics to a confident and impressive upper card act. His shoot-style career is one with plenty of peaks and troughs but ultimately a progression through time as he gets better and better with time. This career by its lonesome would be pretty great: combine that with his pro-wrestling stuff and you have perhaps one of the top performers of his time. 

My top 10 in no particular order:

Vs Kanehara III

Vs. Matsui II

Vs. Sakuraba

Vs. Gene Lydick

Vs. Masahito Kakihara III 

Vs. Kenichi Yamamoto II/III

Vs. Billy Scott II

Vs. Naoki Sano III 

Vs. Kawada

Vs. Kanehara IV

 

 

 

 

[Ma Stump Puller]

I usually don't bump these but very very recently someone somehow found a intact pro-shot version of the Kawada and Takayama match after 20+ years! Pretty wild to see in action, there's a lot more to value out of the match when it isn't all, you know, green. Check it out. 

YT link

Backup in case of removal (no sound)