ARSION That I Missed

 Mariko Yoshida vs. Mikiko Futagami, ARSION 8/9/1998

Here's a great match that I missed as it didn't make the Best of ARSION comp. It says a lot how loaded with great wrestling 1998 ARSION was that this was just one of 3 great matches that evening, but here we are. GAMI may have been the 2nd greatest act in the promotion after Yoshida. Like Yoshida is this monster submission artist, but GAMI is this tricky technician who can counter and catch her. Lots of great grappling exchanges as you expect, and Futagamais surprise abisegiris and palm strikes ruled. Great finish, too, and it was just under 8 minutes.

Aja Kong vs. Mikiko Futagami, ARSION 4/11/1998

Quality match built around GAMI chipping away at Ajas bad knee. That kind of layout could be trite especially on a houseshow match, but thanks to Aja constantly fighting back everything felt highly competitive. As soon as Futagami gained the upper hand, she started torturing Aja with nasty stomps and really stretching her leg out with legbars. There was one calf slicer that was more like an ankle slicer the way GAMI had it applied. Kongs agony selling is really convincing and the finishing stretch is really great. Futagami is a great tricky counter wrestler which naturally matches up well against a juggernaut like Aja, but Aja also busted out some slick reversals.

Mariko Yoshida vs. Yumi Fukawa, ARSION 5/8/1998

This match up is kind of an all timer. This was a really dominant performance from Yoshida, which is not a problem because she‘s a top 5 grappler of all time AND also pretty great and selling slight vulnerabilities even when she‘s totally owning her opponent. Right away Fukawa misses a flying armbar and from that point on Yoshida mostly counters Fukawas counter attempts. A few crazy submission attempts as usual such as Yoshida busting out an armbar from an indian deathlock position and then turns Fukawas counter attempt into a Fujiwaraesque leg stretch. Really nice sequence where Fukawa is able to get a leglock, Yoshida is able to reverse it but comes up with a slight limp which signals for Fukawa to start pouncing. Fukawa didn‘t have much chance but she gave it her all, and those couple seconds where she got something in felt important due to Yoshidas dominance. Sick finish. Another example of this crew being unable to do any wrong in 1998.

Keita Yano Documentation Project #1

Keita Yano vs. Sanshu Tsubakichi, BattlARTS 1/17/2010 - FUN

This was one of those B-Rules matches which means all grappling. Yano wasn't on the same level as a pure grappler as 10 years later but it was a fun 5 minutes. There's a cool spot where Yano chokes out Tsubakichi over the rope and some gritty submissions especially enjoyed the weird leg hook Yano busted out. Perfectly fun stuff

Keita Yano vs. Sanshu Tsubakichi, WALLABEE 4/28/2013 - FUN

3 years later, BattlARTS is gone, Yano is the Joker and he shows up in a Bruce Lee suit. It's a WALLABEE world now. This wasn't a ton different from the 2010 match, almost all grappling although it had some gritty kicks and kidney punches. Good in the same way with a neat Fujiwara-esque finish although didn't quite push in the weird and wonderful of truely great Yano matches.

Keita Yano vs. 326, WALLABE 11/30/2014 - EPIC

Now this is stuff that is making Yano a legend. 326 (Mitsuru) is this short, old, bald sleazey looking karateka. Normally grappler vs. striker would have the striker be the dominant one, but Yano is a menacing force in black metal facepaint here. He punts the poor guy all over the dojo, really hitting him with sick reckless kicks and punches. An awkward swinging lariat sends Mitsuru tumbling and coming up bloody. That seems to have woke him up as he plants a nasty spin kick in Yanos face. Now both these guys are bleeding and at each others throats trading sick headbutts. When Yano started raining punches from mount it looked like he wanted to kill the guy. Also loved him hurling 326 by the scruff and the big belly to belly suplex. Short, intense, violent, pure sleaze gold. Also really dug the post match.

Keita Yano Documentation Project

 

It was long overdue boys. Keita Yanos career has been quite the ride. His early BattlARTS stuff was controversial due to him bringing some weird ideas into it, but he had his moments and that stuff is ripe for reevaluation. Eventually he decided to become the Joker and it changed all of our lives. Now he is the king of weird ringless grappling matches and I'm here to watch it ALL. Strap in for the most ambitious documentation project yet as we try to gauge whether our boy has evolved enough to be considered up there with the GOATs.

 

2007

vs. Manabu Hara, BattlARTS 2/25/2007 - GREAT

w Chojin Yusha G Valion vs. Tomohiko Hashimoto & Yuta Yoshikawa, Style-E 7/22/2007 - GREAT

 2008

vs. Roberto Tanaka, 3/10/2008 - GREAT

vs. Yujiro Yamamoto, BattlARTS 6/1/2008 - GREAT

w Munenori Sawa vs. Fugofugo Yumeji & Sanshu Tsubakichi, EXIT 8/24/2008 - GREAT

vs. Katsumi Usuda, BattlARTS 11/16/2008 - EPIC

2010

vs. Sanshu Tsubakichi, BattlARTS 1/17/2010 - FUN 

vs. Fugofugo Yumeji, EXIT 11/28/2010 - EPIC

2011

vs. Konaka=PALE ONE, Team Dera 2/20/2011- FUN

vs. Yuki Ishikawa, BattlARTS 3/21/2011 - GREAT

2012

w THE KABUKI vs. Kikujiro Umezawa & Kenji Takeshima, EXIT 1/29/2012 - FUN

vs. Taro Yamada, WALLABEE 6/14/2012 - EPIC

2013

vs. Sanshu Tsubakichi, WALLABEE 4/28/2013 - FUN 

2014

vs. 326, WALLABEE 11/30/2014 - EPIC 

vs. Ultimate Spider Jr., 12/28/2014 - FUN

2018

vs. Great Zako, Unemployment Pro 10/21/2018 - EPIC

2019

vs. GOA, VKF 9/29/2019 - GREAT

2020

vs. GOA, 2/1/2020 - GREAT

2021

vs. Hikaru Sato, Tenryu Project 8/13/2021 - EPIC

vs. Hikaru Sato, Tenryu Project 8/26/2021 - EPIC

2022

w Takafumi Ito vs. Harutoki & Masamune, Masamune Produce 6/19/2022 - FUN

vs. Shota, Tenryu Project 8/17/2022 - FUN

vs. Hikaru Sato, Tenryu Project 9/19/2022 - EPIC 

vs. Naoki Tanizaki, Tenryu Project 11/13/2022 - SKIPPABLE

vs. Takuro Niki, Tenryu Project 11/13/2022 - FUN

vs. Hikaru Sato, Tenryu Project 11/13/2022 - GREAT 

vs Drew Parker, Tenryu Project 12/11/2022 - EPIC

2023

vs. Super Tiger 2, Kakuto Tanteidan 10/12/2023 - GREAT

CAPTURE International 3/23/2022

First CAPTURE show to make tape in 19 years baby! Purchase it here

Daisuke Kanehira vs. Mizuki Watase

Pretty fun opening match between two juniors with dyed hair where they dialed up the stiffness to 11 like it‘s CAPTURE or something. They did some alright grappling and then waffled each other fierce. Couple fun spots such as a nasty guardrail drop, missile dropkick off the guardrail that looked tricky and a nasty rolling senton into the guardrail. Reminds me of those short FUTEN opening matches, I'm not sure I would want to check out these guys doing HEAT-UP undercard matches but the CAPTURE factor upgrades everything.

Fuminori Abe & Sanshu Tsubakichi vs. JOHTA & Keisuke Goto

Now this is the real CAPTURE material. 4 lunatics beating each other to death in a basement and not holding back in the slightest. JOHTA is a 20 year CAPTURE veteran, he is clearly a bit flabby and old but still looks like a menacing force in his ADIDAS pants. Abe is great when he cuts out the bullshit, and he did cut out the bullshit here. Keisuke Goto is a guy who was apparently trained in a joshi dojo, and he is a fun thick guy who can eat nasty kicks and retaliate with full bodyweight dropping sentons. Tsubakichi is fun and works stiff, hitting some nice body punches. Abe/JOHTA interactions were great and I loved how Johta got in peoples faces, grabbing the referee by the scruff, he came across as tough and out of control. Some really violent kicks and headbutts and Abe trying to break his fist on JOHTAs thick skull. I really liked how Abe was cocky initially and seemed to have the upper hand only to end being left a bloody mess by JOHTA.

Boxing Gloves Match: Takahiro Tababa vs. Super Tiger II

It‘s a boxing gloves match, baby. Short but very entertaining because Tababa was in „Beat a man to death“ mode here. He just pounced on poor Tiger and proceeded to drive his fists into him without relenting. Tiger looks overwhelmed but he has some fun comebacks shutting down Tababas rage and he looked like he really wanted to end this as soon as possible. The kick he caught him with was awesome. I think this went 4 minutes which is just right.

Takuya Nomura vs. Hiroshi Yamato

Yamato is this ex-AJPW guy who seems to be trying to be the most booked man on the Japanese indies. He‘s EVERYWHERE. And to my surprise he is pretty good at working basement shootstyle. Lots of fun grappling (Yamato trained with Virus), and while Yamato isn‘t a crowbar shooter there are some moments where they stand up and try to slap the skin off of each other. Really liked Yamatos jumping kicks, he came across as a pro wrestler tightening up his act to hang with a badass. Nomura looked quite good as usual. The suplex bumps were insane considering how thin that mat looks and the KO finish looked like it sent the guy to another dimension. Good shit.

2/3 Falls: Naoya Nomura & Super Crafter U vs. Rikiya Fudo & Kosuke Sato

The best match on this great show. Crafter is a masked guy who can do some fun grappling and hit people hard. Sato is a kickpadded BJW guy with good energy. And Fudo is just an awesome crowbar. I wasn‘t sure how AJPW boy Nomura would do but he has great energy and is willing to kill and get killed. Comprise all that into a 10 minute match and you have yourself one hell of a fight. Also add 2/3 falls rule means that any move can be a finish. Fudo is so great here, standing tall and beating the life out of people with Vader Hammers, shoot headbutts and the most violent splashes on earth. His sumo charge that bounced the other guy into the guardrail was also fantastic. All the Fudo/Nomura exchanges were damn great. I loved that Nomura is this guy who was primed to become an AJPW main eventer and Fudo just doesn't give a fuck at all and beats him like a dog. Nomura kept hitting these great spears. I really liked how when Fudo faced the other guy, Crafter just gave him some leg kicks and tagged out, I can understand not wanting to deal with that dude. Last fall was super intense and energetic with guys catching hands, eating sick headbutts and trying to tap each other out. Pro wrestling is good again.

The Library

Takeshi Ono Documentation #20

Takeshi Ono & Ryuji Hijikata vs. junji.com & Urban Ken, BattlARTS 9/7/2000 - GREAT

 BattlARTS undercard tags then were a thing of beauty, and this was another real goodie. A bunch of juniors who aren't really stereotypically shoot stylists or juniors thrown together to do indy wrestling with that solid BattlARTS style groundwork. I enjoyed all these guys building up a solid match from the ground, and Ono as usual stood out above everyone hitting a bit stiffer punches and kicks and doing submissions a bit slicker and nastier than everyone else. It really picks up for the second half in a big way as you get junji and Ken running wild, junjis Animal Hamaguchi moveset feels really fresh, he busts out a choice Samoan Drop into a nasty kimura and then hits these really cool falling headbutts to the shoulder. They go bigger than you expect from an undercard tag as Ken and Ono look awesome, Ono doing his usual ultra slick reversals and strikes and Ken hitting awesome tackle moves, his style is really fun. Honestly felt like a great discovery thanks to everyone putting their working boots on and looking their best for that ending run.

 

Takeshi Ono & Takahiro Oba vs. Manabu Hara & Kengo Mashimo, FUTEN 5/30/2010 - EPIC

Super violent high end FUTEN main event tag. 4 crazy guys trying to batter each other to death with rotten kicks and wild swinging hands. It's a testament to Onos ability that he still looks super dangerous in a match where no one is holding back, he was trying to crush peoples faces with kicks and knees the whole time. Hara and Mashimo kind of form an asskicking force together, Mashimo is really solid in his usual role as a ratty thick guy who will beat you. Hara may have had the night of his life here as he was beating on people like he meant to kill them and locking in slick submissions. While there isn't a ton of matwork I really enjoyed the couple brief sections mostly starring Oba. Oba honestly looked pretty great here as well as his violent clubs and caveman strength spots are so unique, honestly he is another reason why we need the whole FUTEN back catalogue. Obas reckless attacks were interesting throughout without veering into goofy territory and there were some well inserted more pro style spots in. Finishing run was Ono vs. Hara and may have been one of the best ending runs ever done in this style, Hara was brutalizing Ono who kept evading and coming back to plant a knee in his face or just punch his jaw out. 20 minutes of awesome and one of the more mindblowing FUTEN matches of the year.

Takeshi Ono Documentation Project

Matches from an old WAR Comm. Tape

 Genichiro Tenryu vs. Hiromichi Fuyuki & Jado & Gedo, WAR 7/28/1995

This was a 3 on 1 elimination match in a cage. Pretty insane ultra heated spectacle match where everyone does a great job. It‘s basically Jado & Gedo frantically swarming Tenryu while Fuyuki does his crazy high pitched yelling and beats him down further and it‘s awesome. Tenryu is The Rock here with the badass turned up a 100 times, getting huge reactions by looking at people and just looking like the ultimate walking tall & kicking ass babyface. I‘m a huge fan of Japanese ace figures destroying lower ranked wrestlers and Tenryu did just that to Jado & Gedo. Gedo looked great here, bleeding big, getting beaten to a pulp by Tenryu kicks and lariats, flying into the cage taking nasty bumps, jumping on Tenryu in the worst moments being a pesky annoyance, he also hit this absolutely lunatic cage dive to the floor, it really made me want to forgive him for ruining NJPW later. Fuyuki is his usual self here and acts like a prick, always coming in to stomp on Tenryus face and do his psycho screeching. Then you have Tenryu bleeding, random chaos breaking out with Tenryus crew brawling with Fuyukis underlings, plus a huge huge huge finish. Could have done with Tenryu kicking out of less moves but yeah fuck that criticism, Wrestle and Romans times 1000.

11/21/95 Korakuen Hall: Genichiro Tenryu vs. Shinichi Nakano

Only a couple moments of this were shown :( Tenryu hits an enzuigiri to Nakanos stomach that looks cool because Tenryu just does random things and makes them look cool. He also hits a kick that looks like it broke Nakanos jaw. Nakano is bleeding and taps out to the WAR Special soon.

1/23/96 Korakuen Hall: Genichiro Tenryu vs. Shinichi Nakano

Looks like it‘s the full match. Fast, brutal sprint. Tenryu beats the soul out of Nakano. Holy hell Nakano was taking kicks and punches here that would make Yuki Ishikawa wince. He bled, too, and seemed to be bleeding from the back of his head as well. Nakano barely made comebacks but he looked tough as nails even doing something as simple as shoving Tenryu. Also loved Nakano frantically avoiding the WAR Special. Gotta love Tenryu putting over Nakanos Fujiwara Armbar even though Nakano is way below him. Nakano is out of his depth but still fights for his live and punches Tenryu in the face. Awesome shit. There‘s WYF guys in jackets and Koki Kitahara looking like they want to jump into the fray. Nakano is done soon but he went down like a (very outmatched) hero. Pure ultra heated 90s magic.

Matches from IGF 8/9/2007 worth watching

Watch

Yuki Ishikawa vs. Atsushi Sawada

As usual Ishikawa has the best match on the show against a young Sawada in his first match ever. Tough match where Ishikawa mostly beats the shit out of Sawada with brutal kicks and stomach punches, one absolutely disgusting headbutt included. Sawada is big and burly, he swings hard and he has one or two great looking at-will suplexes on Ishikawa. There was less matork than in other Ishikawa matches, but he twisted Sawada into ridiculous ground octopus stretch at one point. Finish was ridiculous as Ishikawa was caving Sawadas face in. It looked like Sawada would power out of the following sleeper but then just went out on his face. Gritty rookie punishment stuff and another night where Ishikawa ruled.

Tom Howard vs. Alexander Otsuka

Tom Howard is kind of a quirky great wrestler. In this match he has a boxing glove on one hand which adds to his goofiness. But the stuff he does looks cool and he's unpredictable. He hits a great trust kick then locks on a random forearm choke that you totally buy might put Otsuka to sleep because IGF undercard matches are weird and it fits Howards character. I also really liked his trip to  counter Otsukas giant swing. Otsuka had a great triangle rana over the fucking rope and hit his big suplex on the big foreigner. I think this went 6 minutes and was a great bizarro world WCWSN match.

WAKASHOYO vs. Erik Paulson

It's MMA and grappling pioneer Erik Paulson against a sumo. LOVE INOKIS BOOKING! Wakashoyo is fun here, pummeling Paulson around and not holding back with his palm strikes. He also hit this huge slam that was really cool. Paulson looks like he would do well in a shootstyle fed, his grappling is very neat and he got some fun takedowns on the big fat guy. Cool finish. I think this lasted 2 and a half minutes.

Kazuhiro Hamanaka vs. Taka Kunou

Wrestling vs. Judo grappling match done almost like a spotfest. Hamanaka has really nice throws and Kunou has a really great flying armbar and STO, and they match up very well and Kunou produces a cool finish. This lasted slightly longer than 3 minutes.

Michiyoshi Ohara vs. Kevin Randleman

It's the MMA legend Randleman against Tatsutoshi Goto underling Michiyoshi Ohara. Ohara gives his all here and they have a scrappy match fighting clinches and beating on each other. Ohara spits on Randleman and Randleman has ridiculously fast shots and damn near kills Ohara with a gigantic suplex. Then Ohara wins it with his awesome running headbutts! This went close to 4 minutes.

JWP 9/3/2000

 

Yuki Miyazaki vs. Acute Sa

Fun JIP opening match. Miyazaki is game and Sae is a cull mulleted grappler with fun throws and nasty double stomps. The start working the mat and move on to work some pretty cool standing exchanges before ending the match early. I really liked Miyazakis tight neckbreaker drop, such a cool move that a lot of girls don‘t make look good.

Capture International 5 Minute Exhibition Match: Nihao vs. Yuki Kubota

Kubota is a female MMA fighter who trained with Koki Kitahara a bit. This was a cool bonus match to have, Kubota is in a gi and she basically spars grappling with Nihao for 5 minutes. Some nice sweeps and such and probably the only pro wrestling footage of Kubota on film until we steal Kitaharas hard drive which we really need to do.

Misae Genki vs. Tanny Mouse

Another JIP match, they clip the pro style matches but show the grappling exhibition in full? Tanny Mouse has a rep as a terrible worker but she is actually pretty cool when she‘s serious. This was about Genki trying to finish off the little Mouse fast and Genki reversing her chokeslams into cool armbars which is a story I can get into. I loved the reversel of the top rope chokeslam into the Fujiwara armbar and Tannys flying armbar, does anyone even do tope rope chokeslams anymore? Really fun stuff and Genkis emerald frosion was nasty as fuck.

JWP Jr. Title Match: Kayoko Haruyama vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki

There was a pitiful small crowd at this show, but everyone here is working hard. This was an exciting match between two workers who should have gone on to become stars but just ended up cult favourites. Really stiffing each other up with nasty elbows and open palms. Kuragaki was a monster here, bruising Haruyama with shoot headbutts including one to the back of her head, and trying to break her back. Really great finish. This is the kinda shit why joshi undercards are often better than the main events.

Azumi Hyuga & Command Bolshoi vs. Reggie Bennett & Kana Mizaki

Workrate main event with the addition of Bennett and Bolshoi to spice things up. It‘s a shame Bennett didn‘t have much of a career because she always looks pretty great whenever I see her. She meshes really well with the workrate queens while retaining her swagger and looking like a monster. There‘s something a bout a beast who can grapple and drop bombs and strike funny taunts and she could do all that. Mizaki is also someone people never bring up who is pretty good. This didn‘t have some kind of epic story or selling but they worked a bunch of rad exchanges and it was all high energy and cool.

THE LIBRARY

2002 MOTY Project Update #19

 14. Toshiyo Yamada vs. Sugar Sato, GAEA 12/15/2002

I wasn‘t sure what to expect from this, but ended up being a really great match full of neat moments, cool exchanges and the kind of super hard fought style of wrestling that I really liked. Sato has always been kind of the stepchild of the GAEA crew, not being as flashy as the others, but her aggressiveness and body checks and shoulder tackles style really clicked for me here. Opening was pretty great and closer to an 80s or 90s New Japan match as Sato tried to ground Yamada resulting in some really great struggling over basic leglocks and Sato trying to pounce on Yamada. I‘d say Yamada was pretty great here too and easily outshining her 90s peers. She was working like an aging asskicker, vulnerable but able to kick you in the face and put you to sleep. The match eschewed a traditional structure but they told their story – Sato being aggressive with her tackles and knee attacks while Yamada was selling, timing her comebacks and nearly KO‘ing her several times with unexpected kicks. The match had a few great spots which were the right mix of rugged and pretty, you had the barfight moves like Sato tackling Yamada through the ropes as well as the more flashier moments such as Yamada countering Satos running powerbomb with a beautiful rana. The pace was fast but they timed their stuff in beautiful fashion. I also gotta say Satos back body attack had to be one of the most beautiful, simplistic spots I‘ve seen due to the way it was timed and executed. Finishing stretch was great with Sato trying to avoid Yamadas finisher only to end up ending an Ikeda style punt to the face but still fighting her damndest. Amazing shit, I‘m not sure if this wasn‘t pretty enough for the joshi fans at the time or if they had simply all quit watching GAEA at this point. 

 

2002 MASTER LIST