Shuji Ishikawa vs Hitamaru Sasaki, Kyushu Pro 8/24
Kyushu Pro once again delivers one of the best big matches of the year... it's more likely than you think! Ishikawa was quite impressive here dropping bombs on his much smaller opponent and basically acting like King Kong. He was absolutely cracking Sasaki with his elbows and knees here, as Shuji Ishikawa does. Some of Sasakis strikes were a bit feeble, but he also had a few kicks that caught Ishikawa pretty hard. The best thing about this was that it was pretty unpredictable. Nearly no going through the motions here. I loved how Sasaki would clutch his bad neck early on whenever he got whipped back. I would've liked them to go a bit deeper but for this kind of super dominant champ vs underdog challenger in an affair with lots of hard hits this was very good.
Daisuke Ikeda vs White Moriyama, HEAT-UP 8/17
Ikedas 1st match in like 20 months! Well, I love him, but maybe it's time to think about hanging up the boots. The first 7 minutes of this are just a below average NOAH match. Why are you doing rope running? Ikeda hits a cool russian leg sweep and starts kicking the hell out of Moriyama and it starts to get good. There are some brutal head kicks, headbutts and face punches. There's also some old man comedy with Moriyama hitting Mongolian Chops and Ikeda biting his foot. It's fun but it's a far cry from what things used to be. Moriyama looked really off here, hitting a weak second rope elbow drop of all things and some flimsy looking leg lariats. A far cry from his match against Najima. Some great brutality here which feels almost nostalgic, though.
Kazunari Toi vs Shinigami vs Leatherface, Crazy Union 8/17
Oh it's Crazy Union. How old is Katsunari Toi? Oh, 60. He does not move or act like he's 60. I guess he loves hitting people with barbedwirebats and spin kicking them and it's keeping him young. Toi is so energetic and fun here, really a breath of life. I'm not sure when Shinigami last wrestled, but he is slower. But so what, he's a zombie and he puts the brain claw on Toi. Shinigami and Leatherface team up to beat on Toi until suddenly someone who looks like ICEMAN (from Puerto Rico and some Japanese indies in the 90s) comes in to help! Okay, I did not expect that. It turns into a tag team match somehow, and well, they just continue to brawl and throw each other into furniture. It's fun. I think Katsunari Toi would have been great in the WWF Hardcore Division. I like that here when kicks are thrown that don't land they are just ignored. And the match is completely chaotic. Whenever I watch Crazy Union it's so anarchic and befuddling and unapologetic in what these guys aim to do. It rarely ends up producing 'great matches' in the traditional sense but it's charming and I like it a lot and this was a good example of that fun befuddling anarchy. Nevermind: TOI~!
Sareee vs Ranna Yagami, Marigold 8/1
Continues from their very good match earlier in the year. Ranna was like an angry terrier trying to maul Sareee here. The result is actual scrappiness and violence coupled with the interpromotional angle. Ranna is a fun crowbar, I should probably watch more of her, she had a lot of fun ways to hit Sareee really hard. They did the spot where they no sell some soccer kicks which is one of the most trite spots in modern wrestling to me but Ranna resolves it by just pelting Sareee really hard with kicks. She was barraging Sareee so hard you buy there might be an actual upset. And Sareee is pretty impeccable as the higher ranked star destroying someone with double stomps and dropkicks while looking cold as hell.
Seri Yamaoka vs Utami Hayashishita, Marigold 8/16
Seri is obviously a hot prospect. Utami is one of the top women in Marigold. They start with some cool matwork which was nice to see from Utami. When Utami got the advantage, she made sure to punish Yamaoka with some body slams and boston crabs in typical veteran on rookie fashion, with Yamaoka having to progress through that. Some cool suplexes and moments and Utami was eventually forced to bust out the bigger bombs to put Yamaoka down. Last few minutes were very good. Nothing mindblowing but it's a solid match and Yamaokas progression is coming along nicely.
Lee Moriarty vs Xelhua, RoH 8/29
Man, it can be jarring to go back and watch US workrate wrestling. So much stuff was thrown out here, just for the sake of it, with not much of it being allowed to breath or mean anything. Two things I liked a lot about this: Xelhua ripping Moriarty apart with submissions like a lucha Volk Han, and the finish. That was very cool. But on the way there, they just did a lot of meaningless stuff. I wasn't familiar with Moriarties act so I was a bit surprised when he went the heel route after trying to wrestle Xelhua straight on. Good in theory, but Xelhua was back on offense almost immediately. Moriarty dropkicks Xelhua while leapfrogging over the referee? Cool spot, looked great, but again didn't mean anything because Xelhua was back on offense seconds later. Moriarty giving Xelhua some dirty stomps in the corner? Again, didn't matter, Xelhua was back to beating him up seconds later! 5 minutes in they had thrown out and discarded so much stuff it was almost comical. The using of the Pure Title rules was also nonsensical. A flimsy punch gets Xelhua admonished, but bending the fingers or stomping someone in the corner is fine. Moriarty forces Xelhua to the ropes with the Border City Stretch, and the commentator points out Moriarty could easily lock in that dangerous hold again. He does not lock it in again, until its time to do the finish, because gotta do more stuff. At one point Moriarty the heel hits 2 suicide dives in a row. He goes for a 3rd, pauses as if to act like he's not gonna do it (After hitting 2 already), then goes for it anyways and that time Xelhua catches him and puts him in another meaningless submission on the floor. Because apparently you can just catch a man suicide diving on you if he makes a slight pause before. Just bafflingly stupid stuff. There was some good work here but man I do not like this kind of wrestling.
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