36. Kensuke Sasaki vs. Yoshihiro Takayama, NJPW 8/3/2002
Insanely violent fight in front of a hot crowd. The psychology here was caveman level simple. Sasaki is able to throw off his opponent at first but Takayama re-establishes himself as the monster. Eventually it just devolves to both guys stubbornly trying to crack each other. The level of stiffness provides more than enough entertainment though, and Sasakis wild flailing plus things like Takayamas full weighted knee caving into Kensukes chest were far more entertaining than the usual elbow fest. No idea how those lariats didn‘t break Takayamas jaw. Finish was simple but super well done and Takayama punching Sasaki in the back of the neck was fairly crazy. This was easily Sasakis most exciting match of the year I‘ve seen so far.
35. Yuka Shiina vs. Yoshiko Tamura, NEO 10/22/2002
Interesting match. Shiina was on fire, throwing out one crazy submission reversal after another. By far the best I've seen her look. She was hellbent on forcing a tapout from Tamura. Yoshiko Tamura is someone who frustrates me as she clearly is a competent pro wrestler, but she has this tendency to throw it worthless ace crushers and DDTs that serve no purpose. This match was short and mat based, so it ends up one of the better Tamura bouts of the era. The match was almost all submissions, but they walloped each other with some kicks between the holds. Tamuras cross legbar reversal towards the end was pretty great. I need to see more of this Shiina.
34. Kengo Mashimo vs. Sambo Oishi, K-Dojo 4/20/2002
I think this was Mashimos second match ever. It was one hell of a match for a second ever match. There were a couple damn great exchanges here. Tenacious grappler Oishi ruled, too. Mashimo wasn‘t fully embracing his later dickhead character, but when it was time to throw kicks he beat the shit out of Oishi. Some outstanding submission work. There were some pro style touches but they were executed in a really explosive way and integrated perfectly. Really made me want to get both guys back catalogue. Best 6 minute match of the year?
Exactly what Capture promises, 4 guys just beating eachother silly in savage ways. The Mineno/Johta sections were really fun with both guys throwing fast hands and kicks, all ultra stiff of course. Then you had the heavyweights – both Kitahara and Kurashima looked like they were twice the size of either Johta or Mineno – bullying the little guys around. Kurashima is a MUGA boy and he mostly sticks to matwork here, altough he does punish opponents with some brutal throws and inventive submissions. At one point he did a Backlund lift from an armbar into almost a One Winged Angel. Kitahara was an absolute bastard once again, stomping on Minenos face and sucker punching him from behind. Match is really good shootstyle in parts but starts breaking down into chaos towards the end with the referee losing control over who is legal and who isn't, so you would get Kurashima tackling Kitahara while Mineno would try to kick him in the face. Still this is what Capture promise and each fall had a great finish.
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