Tanomusaku Toba Documentation Project #11

 

Tanomusaku Toba & Shuji Ishikawa vs. Touro Owashi & Yasu Urano, DDT 2/19/2021 - FUN

In 2021, Toba can be considered semi retiered. This is his sole appearance so far, and he did his thing. Match was semi-comedic and during the opening portions every move seemed to be followed by a joke, so it was never going to be a great match, but I was entertained due to everyone playing their role and some sense of hierarchy being displayed. Urano impressed me during his opening grappling with Shuji. Then, Owashi, who wrestles like an even lazier Akira Taue, employs some scummy tactics to avoid getting hit by Toba. I was starting to zone out during Uranos and Owashis standup routine but thankfully Toba salvaged things by punching Urano in the face hard. Ishikawa did the bare minimum. I mean, when Owashi is outworking you (by doing a forward roll, in this case) you really are just collecting your paycheck. Toba tagged in for the final segment and looked good potatoeing Urano as he always does. Match seemed to be building to a bigger ending stretch but in the end what we got was basically a working boots old man comedy tag and I had fun.

Tanomusaku Toba vs. Takeshi Yamada, Nightmare Pro 2/2/2002 - GREAT

Two guys who have no problem beating the shit out of each other being given 5 minutes. Exactly what you want, no downtime, not much cooperation, and plenty of brutal hits and neat offense. Yamada is a Nightmare Pro/ex-WYF young boy with some fun hybrid powerhouse offense including an Oklahoma stampede and a nasty STO. And Toba just beats the shit out of him and dares him to shoot back. Really dug how the last KO was sold. I think Yamada was lost in the shuffle soon after or became a forgettable seedy brawler.

Added to 2002 MOTY list at #61.

Tanomusaku Toba vs. Fuminori Abe, DDT/BASARA 4/20/2018 - EPIC

Toba is older and slower, but he can still bring it in a wild fight. This was Abe basically working a sleazy 90s West Japan or CAPTURE match, which is kind of the height of the artform for a guy like him. This was probably the best I‘ve seen Abe look, simply because he slotted right into Tobas style of wrestling, and busted out some slick submissions. Opening minutes were pretty damn stiff already. Toba looks old, fat, and kind of alcoholic, so him taking these blunt force kicks from Abe looked brutal. Then, Abe decided to put on boxing gloves too so he could punch Toba back. It made the match feel even more like a mixed rules match from a 90s sleaze card. Floor brawling with both guys basically eskimo boxing was pretty insane. Finishing run had both guys eating and dishing out some pretty brutal kicks and punches and a cool strap drop moment when Abe takes the gloves off again. Toba almost getting his foot snapped by an Abe Dragon Screw and then punching his way out of a figure was damn great. Brutal finish. Toba was a champion in this, and crazy as it sounds it ended up being Abes best match I‘ve seen too. There‘s just something about Tobas formula of compact, wild and violent matches that is so much better than the usual main events.

TANOMUSAKU TOBA DOCUMENTATION PROJECT MASTER LIST