Assorted HUSTLE

 

Toshiaki Kawada vs. Naoya Ogawa, HUSTLE 3/18/2005

HUSTLE doesn’t get explored much due to the comical nature of the promotion. But this… this was a seriously good match! Kawada wears this Bruce Lee outfit and Ogawa has “I’m chicken” written all over his attire. I was expecting them to break out into a musical number or something, but they wrestle this completely straight and with effort! It’s not on the level of their epic 2003 encounter, but they work plenty stiff, there are some fun payback spots centered around both guys working headlocks and then dismissively kicking the other guy, and I loved Kawada here, desperately avoiding Ogawas STO and mount punches, and doing fun stuff like breaking out a random spinning choke and even stealing Ogawas STO! Really fun, maybe even great match.

Naoya Ogawa vs. Tadao Yasuda, HUSTLE 7/13/2005

This went like 8 minutes, with a like 1/4th of that spent in a Figure 4 leglock that had no consequent. That said, I had watching Yasuda act sleazy and Ogawa bruising him up with kicks and judo throws. There is also an AWESOME spot where Yasuda blocks an STO and sumo rushes Ogawa.

Yoji Anjoh vs. Zeus, HUSTLE 9/17/2008

Absolutely great match. Well, if you can get into something that could as well show up on Superstars as a “great match” – but this is great. Like the worlds greatest Finlay vs. Chris Masters match. Young Zeus with the cornrows has tons of cool power spots. I loved how he would throw off Anjohs initial attempts at grappling him, until Anjoh started wristlocking and fingerbending him a bunch. Anjoh looks pretty great like Regal, his performance here made me wonder if I should do a deep dive on his HUSTLE run. Zeus arm selling had a few nifty moments – including a cool attempted gorilla press and the match ended in just the picture perfect moment.