Tanomusaku Toba Documentation #6

 

Tanomusaku Toba vs. Takashi Sasaki (DDT 11/19/2000) - GREAT

Not as good as their match earlier in the year, but there was still plenty of badass violent pro wrestling going on here. Loved the opening with both guys beating the shit out of each other in the corner and Toba throwing some nice combos. There a few more spots here, such as Toba hitting his awesome apron kick and even a frankensteiner, but less Rocky-style exchanges in the finish. Takashi Sasaki once again looks really good, throwing a nice variety of kicks and these two have such excellent timing on their exchanges.

 

Tanomusaku Toba vs. Kota Ibushi, DDT 2/3/2008 - FUN

Sort of a kickboxing approximation to a Japanese big match. Ibushi was pretty goofy here and there too many back and forth strike exchanges. Even though the match was wrestled in Tobas style, it seemed to be all about Ibushi, which I didn’t like. There was a moment where Ibushi moonsaulted right into Tobas fist which looked really stupid. It still holds up better than your typical Japanese big match full of pointless elbow throwing and restholds, though. Lots of nasty strikes, including a great moment where Toba destroyed Ibushi in the corner. Finish was downright disgusting. Overall, his could’ve been way better.

Tanomusaku Toba & HARASHIMA vs. Takashi Sasaki & Masashi Takeda (HARD HIT 1/25/2009) - EPIC

Great great match. DDT guys have done matches with shootstyle elements in the past, but they went full on BattlARTS style here. It was nice to see the deathmatch boys go back to their roots. Harashima/Takeda grappling throughout was pretty great. It was slick U-Style matwork and a joy to watch. Takeda is actually a Tamura guy and it was nice to see he could still do that. Harashima looked really slick too. Of course, the main attraction was Toba and Sasaki going back to the kind of stuff they were doing a decade earlier. You could tell they were excited to get kill each other again. All their exchanges throughout were pretty great and pretty violent. I like how Sasaki blew a gasket for a moment, throwing Toba outside and prompting another streetfighting section, which earned him a yellow card. The finish was between Toba and Takeda and really good also. Toba was anticipating Takedas attacks (something I’ve noticed is one of his go-to tricks) and destroying him with superior strikes. Tobas spinning back elbow to Takedas throat was sick and probably the highlight of the match. Toba going into desperation mode whenever Takeda went for a suplex or submission also was fantastic. Great stuff, wish they had done this kind of thing more often.

Tanomusaku Toba & MIKAMI vs. Hikaru Sato & Akito, DDT 9/29/2013 - GREAT

This was all about Toba vs. Sato. I’ve been pretty critical of Sato, but he was great in this match. Great opening section between him and Toba where he worked over Toba with some disgusting leg kicks. Of course, Toba came back punching his jaw out. I also loved Satos reversal to MIKAMIs 619. This is the first time I’ve seen Akito, and he stinks. However, he never got to drag the match down because Toba and Sato were constantly coming in to crush someone with brutal strikes. The finish was between MIKAMI and Akito and it was short and well executed. Apparently this was the only time Toba and Sato really interacted. Travesty.

 

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