Tanomusaku Toba Documentation Project #10

 

MIKAMI, Super Uchu Power, Tomohiko Hashimoto & Tanomusaku Toba vs Shoichi Ichinomiya, Tomohiro Ishii, GENTARO & YOSHIYA (DDT 10/30/01, Elimination Match) - FUN

This was an Elimination match which kind of showcased the amount of WWF fandom that was going on in DDT. Toba was only in this for a short time, but he looked damn great potatoeing dudes as usual. He also took some big ragdoll bumps during his FIP section. Tomohiro Ishii was kind of working like a regular heel wrestler here, which was a bit underwhelming considering how awesome he was when he was a stiff psycho during this time period, but there was a great moment where Toba woke him up and he started throwing big damn potatoes. The non-Toba portions were good but never reached those early violent heights again. It builds to a WWF style finishing run with Shoichi Ichimiya doing heel run ins, Mikami overcoming a 2 on 1 scenario, all the heels attacking with Stone Cold Uchu Power running in to lay everyone out only for a sudden heel turn to happen. I liked GENTARO a lot in this, such a cool unique wrestler in his early days with his blend of athleticism and WWF New Generation era worship, and MIKAMIs athleticism is also really fun, but I thought it got a little silly down the stretch. Still, someone who’s really into WWF Elimination Matches will probably dig this a lot.

 

Tanomusaku Toba vs. Futoshi Miwa (DDT 5/29/2004) - FUN

Futoshi Miwa is one of those DDT-style wrestlers with a fat nerdy kid gimmick. This was a shockingly decent match, mostly because Miwa knew how to wrestle like a fat kid, and Toba was beating this nerd pretty hard. Initially Miwa would act smug as Tobas kicks were bouncing off of his blubber, so Toba just brutalized him in the corner with punches. It looked like the ref was gonna stop the match but Miwa came back with a triumphant run of fatboy offense, just burying poor Toba under his blubber.

Tanomusaku Toba vs. MIKAMI, DDT 4/4/2010 - GREAT

This was way better. Short and to the point. MIKAMI tries to rush Toba and runs right into a big right hand. After that MIKAMI is eating shit until he is able to spin kick Toba in the face. MIKAMI looks really good here. He doesn’t do any kickboxing, but he has good matwork, highspots landing with a thud. And Toba always comes back punching or kicking him really hard. Apparently this was Tobas return match and he does feel slightly rusty, uncharacteristically whiffing on an axe kick. I hope I can find a match between these two in their peak period.

Tanomusaku Toba & Nihao vs. Takashi Sasaki & Asian Cougar (DDT 11/27/1999) - EPIC

Another excellent match from the DDT crew. Nihao looked very good here. It’s weird that you have to scour the earth for Nihao footage. The boy could go and easily would’ve been a great addition to the BattlARTS undercard scene. Good on the mat, cool suplexes, and perfectly able to engage in a stiff battle. He controlled the early parts of this while Toba would occasionally enter the ring to nail someone with unpredictable kicks and punches. I also really enjoyed Asian Cougar in this. He may seem like a spot monkey who just runs through his shit, but all of his spots where very well timed here and he knew how to fly into the scenery to crush someone at all the right moments. The match also had a great dive sequence. Toba is such a great addition to a hybrid junior tag like this. His springboard kick to the face is so reckless and awesome. The finish is between him and Sasaki and another great entry in their kickass rivalry.

 

 

TANOMUSAKU TOBA DOCUMENTATION PROJECT