[1994-10-14-UWFi-The King's Road: Osaka] Kazushi Sakuraba vs Kenichi Yamamoto

[superkix]

Welp, I'm back at it after a 5+ year hiatus because I realized I still had to finish out 1994. And what better way to jump back in then with Kenichi Yamamoto's pro-wrestling debut against Sakuraba a little over a year after his own debut. He definitely looks the veteran here, no longer throwing himself wildly at his opponent but instead, keeping his cool...until young pup Yamamoto tries to slap his way out of a leg lock, to which Sakuraba promptly lets him know whose ring he's in, giving him plenty of shots to the head. The takedowns to the mat are clumsy at times but then Sakuraba will fire off a beautiful belly-to-back suplex and force Yamamoto crawling to the ropes to escape a heel hold. The rookie gets a few counters and takedowns himself, including a belly-to-belly, and tries to submit with the crab hold but he's lit up and running on empty and ultimately taps out. A good enough debut against Sakuraba, who is starting to get comfortable in his groove.