Command Bolshoi Treasure Trove #8

 

Command Bolshoi vs Ran Yu Yu (JWP 11/11/2012)

This was right before Rans retirement. While she had slowed down a little, she could still bring the badass knee lifts and elbows. And Bolshoi had pretty much turned into a monster wrestler around this time period. Just such a well rounded wrestler who’s always doing something cool. Both these two have great offense, anytime YuYu hits a knee or elbow to stop Bolshoi it feels big, and everytime Bolshoi does something it feels like a cool trick to deal with her beastly opponent. Especially dug her 619s, the 619 is such a tired spot that few wrestlers pull off well but hers were great here, mostly because they came out of unexpected positions. Match also had some good matwork and well worked transitions. A nice late career highlight for Ran, and another entry in Bolshois resume of great matches around this time period.

Command Bolshoi vs Konami, GPS 12/19/2018

These two had already faced in 2017, now Bolshoi was just a year from retirement and Konami had advanced a little. As a result this is longer, and more stubborn. Loved how Bolshoi resisted the armbar over the ropes spot. At first it’s largely Bolshoi tearing Konami apart with her cool submissions and its really fun. Bolshoi makes even something like a basic stomp to the kneecap look outstanding which you have to love. Konami, however remains stubborn fighting back with her hard kicks and flash armbars. Bolshoi is up for a challenge against a shooter, but after some more hard fighting Konami is able to get Bolshoi in a great modified calf slicer. Bolshoi comes up limping, and what follows are some of the better minutes of pro wrestling I’ve seen in a while. A limping Bolshoi with her kneecap exposed desperately trying to avoid the killing blow and shutting down Konami with palm strikes, punching her in the face and sinking in a choke was pretty epic and exactly the kind of ‘wounding the veteran’ moment Konami needed. Finishing run had Bolshoi tying up Konami with more crazy submissions and palm strike maulings as well as more cool kicks and counter work. Really good stuff, Konami looked good engaging in this kind of stubborn submission-centric match and its just another great Bolshoi performance raising it to the next level with some great selling and character.

Command Bolshoi vs Ran Yu Yu, JWP 3/30/2006

Tremendous match, great in the same way as their 2012 encounter, but faster, scrappier, more tricked out, and bigger. This was really about Bolshoi evading Rans dangerous strikes and in the process busting out a ton of cool stuff. It really works because Ran is established that even a basic elbow or knee from her will fuck you up. Bolshoi was performing at peak level, hitting cool out of nowhere shotais and 619s, scrambling into triangle chokes, rolling her opponent up with ridiculous lucha pins or doing awesome submission counters into tying Ran up, and doing lots of cool blocking, dodging and evading with Ran eventually catching her. Ran has a bunch of awesome moments of her own, at this point she was a total a queen at these lengthy matches built around a few strikes, I mean I think you can count the ‘moves’ she hit in this on like 1 hand but she was incredibly compelling. So, smart match with a lot of great shit in it, no downtime, plenty unique and choice counters… yeah this pretty much ruled. One of the best of 2006.

Bati-Bati Remnants

 Yuki Ishikawa & Hiromitsu Kanehara vs Daisuke Ikeda & Kotaro Nasu, Kana Pro 9/15/2015

Ah yeah, Ikeda and Ishikawa opposite each other, on a Kana Produce show?! You get exactly what you think you are getting here, so it’s at minimum a good-great match, but in a way the real story of the match are Kanehara and Nasu. Nasu is kind of a guy born too, late he was only in BattlARTS and FuTen for a minute before they both shut down (or in case of Futen stopped releasing DVDs), even though he feels like a guy tailor made for stiff quasi-shootstyle battles. And Kanehara was always among the most brutal of the UWFi crew and feels like a guy who also would’ve done great stuff with the BattlARTS guys. And they both bring a lot to the table here, brutal kicks and palm strikes, Kanehara still has much in the tank as ever and Nasu totally holds up his end. You DO get Ishikawa and Ikeda trying to crack each others brains in this and that is as great as ever, but the end run is between Kanehara and Nasu and totally delivers the goods. Oh and there was one safe that was absurdly violent to really put it in the tradition of BattlARTS tags. Really cool 10 minute burst of shootstyle action here, not super deep just 4 guys throwing bombs at each other and delivering fun exchanges.

Yuki Ishikawa & Takafumi Ito vs Daisuke Ikeda & Hiromitsu Kanehara, GPS 9/26/2018

More like the above, with Nasu switched out for the also quite talented Takafumi Ito, and this time it goes longer! The match being 16 minutes instead of 10 means we get a lot more grinding work which is really fun. Kanehara looks like such an old master in this. Still a great grappler, and still hits like a tank with his kicks. The brief exchange with Yuki Ishikawa is really cool and a glimpse at what a banger match they would’ve had in like 1997. There’s also some great Pancrase style slick leglocks between Ito and Kanehara. Ikeda is mostly out of his depth when grappling here and has to resort to clawing, biting and oil checks. The section where he and Ito whail on each other is cool because it’s always cool to see Ikeda going toe to toe with someone who isn’t Yuki Ishikawa. Then he goes for a 619 and falls on his head like the stupid old bat that he is. And him and Ishikawa cracking each other delivers as usual. What’s cool about Ikeda vs Ishikawa is that while there are recurring elements it never feels like they are going through their spots, it’s all nice and spontanous and Ishikawa is not afraid to do things like grinding on Ikedas elbow with his knee and then having a stubborn little battle over a basic side headlock. This mostly everyone grinding out and the finish is rather brief, which is a kind of match that I like because it’s interesting to watch, just 4 guys who can do a lot of awesome stuff doing their thing, and we get a nice mix of the different matchups.

Daisuke Ikeda vs Takafumi Ito, Vaccine Fight 9/13/2012

Ahh, shootstyle guys having random matches on Produce shows, my beloved. For those curious I think Vaccine Fight was run by someone in the medical industry who also liked wrestling. Ikeda shows up in the camo pants, so it’s not full blown shootstyle, and there is quite a bit of fun shootstyle grappling, and Ikeda punting Ito all over the place a bunch. The older, claw- and oilcheck-happy Ikeda is fun but this is the straight forward serious Ikeda who crushes people and it’s great. Ito is such an interesting guy, if only for his gangly body and the way he moves even when he’s doing things like going for a rope break. He looks great when he’s locking in slick submissions on Ikeda, and I am forever sad we have none of his Fu-Ten appearances because I imagine him vs Takeshi Ono would be a completely sick match up. Meanwhile we have this and Ikeda cracking Ito really hard to this befuddled Shin Kiba audience. Fun times and the finish is totally nasty.

Takeshi Ono Documentation Project #22

 Takeshi Ono vs. Takashi Okamura, PWFG 8/12/1995 - FUN

Okamura is the guy with the craziest mullet from Kitao Dojo, and he is a fun opponent for Ono. This was a straight shootstyle 4 minute match than the hybrid craziness this match would have been in 1997 or 1998, but it was good. Okamura works this as a bigger guy with some crazy kick variations, and Ono has to slip past that to try and tap him out. Onos slickness is great, he would lock in a submission and then he would counter Okamuras counter attempt into another submission. Really nice finish too with the crazy belt throw. 

Takeshi Ono & Daisuke Ikeda vs. Hikaru Sato & Kengo Mashimo, Futen 1/22/2012 - EPIC

Another FUTEN main event, another 20 minute round of 4 lunatics just beating the life out of each other. This had a great build, as we start with some cautious Ono/Sato exchanges where neither guy wanted to make a mistake, before Ikeda tags in. Sato and Mashimo immediately take to isolating Ikeda and just slapping the dogshit out of him, which sets up the crazy frenzy that would be the second half of the match kicked off by Ikeda running and punting Mashimo in the face. Sato was just being introduced to the crazy world of FUTEN here, but he did good bringing the violence. He'd punch and palm Ikeda really hard, and finally they engaged in some brink of survival-level headbutt exchange topped by Sato kicking Ikeda in the face hard. After that gruelling caveman slugfest we get the much finer but still extremely violent Mashimo/Ono ending section. Really almost any Ono ending section in a quasi-shootstyle match is gonna be really great and these two looked awesome killing each other, this is just the coolest pro wrestling on earth. Mashimo looked really great too, big deadlift suplex, whiping out Onos leg with a badass sweep, I can only imagine how good their singles matches were. Ono is as great as you want him to be, throwing awesome punches and kneese, a crazy flying headscissor plus almost ripping Mashimo in half with the Octopus Stretch. On top of all that you get the trademark brutal partner saving spots. Really dug the moment where Mashimo went for the brainbuster only for Ikeda to take his leg out, still causing Ono to take a nasty bump. Finish was excellent stuff. Says a lot that this might be the least of FUTEN main events, because it was still an insanely great match.

Takeshi Ono Documentation

Underground Wrestling EXIT 1/29/2012

Fugofugo Yumeji vs. MASAKI

I think MASAKI is a Nightmare guy or something. At least I recall seeing his name on those shows 10 years earlier. Weird how these guys keep popping in and out of random scum indies over the years. Masaki has nice kicks and knees and is not afraid to get slapped in the face hard, and this starts out as pretty decent BattlARTS scrap on a paper tin mat placed on a wooden floor. Soon enough Fugo cranks up the violence to Kurisu-ish levels by hitting some pretty crazy stomps and kicks to MASAKIs head. Masaki doesn‘t give up yet but is soon toast as Yumeji cracks his head open with an ungodly headbutt. Pretty short, primitive and fun.

Nyudo vs. Ghost Face

Ghost Face is a masked guy who looks really buff and kind of old, like he is an undercarder from the 90s, maybe Rikio Ito. This was pretty basic rookie punishment stuff, Nyudo throws forearms and the big guy blows him off etc. Standard staff made a little rougher by the EXIT setting since that mat really seems to provide almost no protection.

Keita Yano & THE KABUKI vs. Kikujiro Umezawa & Kenji Takeshima

Yano was a workhorse in this, hitting the mat with Takeshima and bumping his ass off on that thin mat. He even seemed to be doing a Mighty Inoue tribute act, perhaps inspired by him teaming with the son of the Great Kabuki. Yano does an airplane spin and some flip sentons. The first Umezawa vs. Kabuki Jr. section was great, they start by basically ramming into each other and do a bunch of uncooperative looking grappling. Still I wanted BUKI to do some neck chops and superkicks, but he just didn‘t tag in again for some reason. Still Umezawa is super gritty in this environment and Keita was well worth watching.

 

The Library

Command Bolshoi Treasure Trove #6

Command Bolshoi vs. Kayoko Haruyama, JWP 10/10/2010

Epic match that was just an amazing struggle from the first lockup. First half was built around Bolshoi controling Haruyama using her slickness and amazing submisisons and inventiveness, and Bolshoi looked like the slickest of all time here. Haruyama also had a great performance always barraging Bolshoi with her hard hitting and quick hands, while selling really well for Bolshois submission attacks. Haruyama slowly gaining control was done really well and the second half with Haruyama trying to put the nail in the coffin was just out of this world. Bolshoi has so many different ways to slip out of her opponents moves and lock in a crazy submission or pin that she can credibly roll out even against a beastly opponent, and they all look fantastic here. Build to the finish was amazing as well. Best non-FUTEN singles to happen in Japan in 2010?

Command Bolshoi & Rabbit Miu vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki & Kaoyko Haruyama, JWP 3/4/2012

Pretty fun tag built around Bolshoi tagging with a much lower ranked partner to take on a couple powerhouses. I‘ve never seen Miu before, but she was fun slipping underneath for weird pins and taking beatings. And Bolshoi is a great Misawa dragging her through the match. As always, Bolshois chemistry with Kuragaki is all time level. The Atlantida squence early on where Kuragaki kept pulling her up was incredible. I‘ve no idea how these two aren‘t dropped more commonly among the best pairings in pro wrestling history, because they always do outstanding stuff.

Command Bolshoi vs. Arisa Nakajima, JWP 7/28/2013

Best post-comeback Nakajima match I‘ve seen by far. Well, they had a few matches that I haven't seen, so one of them may have been better. That doesn‘t say a ton because Nakajimas a pretty terrible worker at that point, but Bolshoi brings the absolute best out of her. The match was a slow building epic that stayed in the ring, and Bolshoi was working underdog and timing her comebacks against Nakajimas constant barrage of offense hiding Nakajimas lack of selling, so that fixes a lot of the usual problems. Opening matwork was good hybrid grappling and they mix in some impressive sequences. Bolshoi was a master grappler as usual, I really dug her little tricks such as changing an armbar into a shoulder lock, it adds some nice nuance to big move ladden match. Nakajimas offense was fine here, I liked her crowbar knees, other than that she just did dropkicks and suplexes. There was some Angle/Benoit ish exchanges and no selling in the match which left me with a slightly bad feeling in my stomach and Nakajimas winning move felt random. It‘s good to know Bolshoi could do this kind of high endurance workrate match no problem but choose to be a smarter worker most of the time. Good stuff that is worth watching overall and blows a lot of RoH matches in the same vein away.

Assorted Japan Indy Wrestling

 

Keita Yano vs. Taro Yamada (WALLABEE, 6/14/2012)

Damn great match, I imagine if Yano had never stunk up BattlARTS and instead was only known for doing weird technical matches while wearing his joker makeup and clown singlet in a tiny gym we’d all be Yano superfans. Taro Yamada is the last guy in Japan still holding up the T2P style matwork and one of the most underrated grapplers on the independent scene. This was 25 minutes of matwork that was like a great IWRG style title match. It was a mix of Yamadas llave holds with Yano going along and some cool RINGs-like leglock work thrown in, with both guys doing a great job escaping and transitioning between holds. Whole match felt fresh and competitive and never was like a derivative or weird LARP, these guys were trying to pop each others shoulders and/or ankles the whole time. There were one or two geeky moments where Yano did some “rope running” although it was more like a comedy spot with Yano hooting like an owl, and both these moments lead to cool spots, one where Yamada actually trips Keita with a drop down and another where Yano tricks Yamada into his special hold. There wasn’t some kind of story if you are into that but there were a few great nearfalls and I deeply respect these two for just grappling it out for 25 minutes without slowing down, and never throwing a strike or even a body slam, it was all submissions and funky cradle pins (especially loved Yamadas weird Delfin Clutch variation), just really tightly worked stuff that wouldn’t look out of place in a WoS or lucha title match. I did love Yanos dickish knee slide across Yamadas face and the moment where Yano had enough of the llave holds and challenged Yamada to an amateur match was really cool. Finish was great aswell. Best Yano match I’ve seen by far and actively a great match, which is a major shocker. Yamada played a huge part too but I’ll be damned if Yano wasn’t feeling it that night. Apparently there have been a few matches between these two and I look forward to checking them all out but as it stands this is the best I’ve seen from Yano by a mile.

Yu Iizuka vs. ZIMA Yoshida (RAW 9/30/2018)

ZIMA Yoshida makes his return to the blog. This Yu Izuka is a HEAT-UP guy. While Heat-Up is technically the follow promotion to Style-E, it doesn’t really do shootstyle, but Izuka works full shootstyle here, and actually looks like a guy with lineage to Tamura. Really promising performance from Iizuka, throwing wild spin kicks and looking in cool submissions while doing lightning smooth mat transitions. Our man ZIMA is overwhelmed but he manages to lock in a cool leg lock/neck crank submission of his own. Def. Would’ve liked this to go longer.

Hideki Suzuki & MIKAMI vs. UTOMARO & Yuiga (Batos Cafe, ?/?/??)

Not a pleasant match. Yuiga is a NEO-wrestler who has been working scum indies for 20 years. She tries to take it to Hideki Suzuki in this, who responds by punting her in really violent, unpredictable ways. Yuiga is throwing some crowbar shots and sick headbutts but it seems Suzuki is untouchable. He even no-sells UTOMARO completely. Their match up is really intense and it builds to a great moment where Yuiga is finally able to get something in when she counters a sleeper attempt into a judo throw and tries to sink into a desperation armbar. MIKAMI and UTOMARO basically just provide some fluff between the Yuiga vs. Hideki sections. Great sleeper hold finish.