Cosmo Soldiers YouTube Channel Pt. 2

 

Cosmo Soldier & Hakaru vs Oga Nozaki & Hiroshi Toyoda, KAGEKI 7/20/2014

Cosmo Soldiers continues to deliver the gems on his YouTube channel. In this match we get a look at Oga Nozaki and Hiroshi Toyoda! For those who don’t know, they were the #1 and #2 guy of JWA Tokai in the 2010s so it’s awesome to get a look at them. Oh and Hakaru is there too! And wow this is a really good match. Really scrappy with everybody hitting each other insanely hard with open hand strikes and elbows, and breaking into elbows and dropkicks even from basic movements. A number of unpredictable moments here, which made this feel a bit like a WAR tag. Toyoda was this energetic guy with jeans shorts, he mostly stuck to basic elbows and lariats and exploders and he looked good. Nozaki, the JWA Tokai ace for over a decade, had a bit of a mysterious aura with his bowl cut and dark pants. He liked to throw really hard kicks and go for submissions on the ground but also had some explosive agility. His jumping enzuigiri was awesome, and I liked his flair for the handspring elbow. The handspring elbow is a kind of goofy move but he made it cool in this match by hitting it pretty fast without much addo. He had no problem going toe to toe in violent exchanges and at point he almost shattered Cosmos face with a jumping savate kick that was Daisuke Ikeda levels of sick. So yeah I liked Oga Nozaki a lot on this. Cosmo was also in the match a lot and as always he is always balancing between genius and chaos. He does slip up here and there and there were moments where I couldn’t tell if what he was going for came out as intended, but I think it actually added to the match in some ways. And he also had lots of moments of good wrestling. His dives were amazing, and he brought some evil violence to the match with his double stomps, aggressively slapping guys around and his sickening headbutt to Toyoda. Hakaru was the guy I would’ve liked to see more, he was actually a lot of fun immediately trying to snap an arm. He looked scrappy in a cool way. The match is elimination rules so we get an unpredictable finish, and a cool ending run between 2 guys that was really really good. This was a cool look at some really obscure guys and it really delivered a lot to enjoy.

Cosmo Soldier vs El Samurai, KAGEKI 2010/8/1

Wow, El Samurai! A really fun match where the main appeal is to see Soldier throwing everything he’s got at Samurai. Seriously, Samurai gets a lot of bombs dropped on him in this. There is some cool scrappy matwork and then Soldier comes dropkicking Samurai hard in the ribs from odd angles. Samurai punches Soldier in the face because he’s the man and there are some really stiff exchanges with both guys really clapping each other with open hand strikes. And then you have Soldier hitting this NJPW legend with double foot stomps and suplexing him and just coming up with all kinds of things, in his own somewhat clumsy ways. It’s unusual to see. Samurai has never been a guy who hits a ton of offense, and the few things he does he picks pretty well here. It actually builds to a quite big ending where you really wonder if the indy sensation could put the old legend away.

Cosmo Soldier & Super Taira vs Koji Niizumi & Kitai Kubo, KAGEKI 2011/2/27

 

Awesome battle, the kind that will erase all negative memories from your head and make you remember why you love wrestling again. Niizumi and Kubo are two really obscure wrestlers. From what I can tell they have been KAGEKI mainstays so it’s really hard to find any video of them if you don’t live in Japan. Judging from this match they are an absolute monster team. Niizumi is just a beast, he wrestles like a WAR guy from the 90s who will hit psychotically hard with his elbows and kicks. His jumping knees look like they could kill a person, and I also really liked his one jumping kick. This also takes place in a boxing ring so you know when something like a german suplex or northern lights bomb is hit it’s even harder than in a regular wrestling ring. Everybody was hitting insanely hard in this, with the masked guys coming flying with dropkicks to the face. Taira is also great here, he doesn’t look like the type but he can really dish out and take some crazy strikes, including those awesome jumping kicks. I am mostly used to seeing Taira as grappler but he looked like a total asskicker going toe to toe against someone like Niizumi. Cosmo also brought the violence and a few unique and violent spots, he was pretty straightforward here. Kubo wasn’t tagged in as much as Niizumi but he also looked really fun, he seemed a bit like a sleazy Hiro Saito type with his mullet and pants, he did one hell of a job helping out his buddy though and coming at people with rastand brutal lariats. This match is just a blast, just 4 really cool wrestlers going hard and raining hell on each other for 20 minutes, and awesome to check out, made me want to see more of Kubo and Niizumi because they were killers here. So Cosmo if you are reading this, thank you so much, it’s amazing to see this stuff even 14 years later.

GENTARO Matches

 

GENTARO vs El Samurai, FREEDOMS 9/27/2009

Very nice little gem. They easily could’ve coasted and done the bare minimum and it would have been a good match, but instead they wrestle this like it’s a tribute to Samurai vs Otani from 1996. GENTARO was certainly riding high in the late 2000s cementing himself as workhorse doing technical epics left and right, and late career Samurai is extremely game. Lots of pretty great targeted limb work, the opening segment is basically 5 minutes of Samurai stubbornly going after Gentaros arm/shoulder with nasty kimuras and stomps, then Gentaro goes for the leg. It leads to some great subtly building selling. I love that Samurai still throws really good punches and stomps – his punches to GENTAROs nose were woe-inducing, and despite having slowed down he still looks like he’s no pushover for his younger opponent. This is very much wrestlers wrestler stuff but it’s exactly what you’d hope for if you know what these two are capable of.

GENTARO vs PSYCHO, YMZ 7/21/2014

With PSYCHO being announced for the next Mutoha show, I had to check this out. The first half of the match was kind of slow and dragged down by lazy heel tactics, but it actually gets good when they start doing what I like best, hitting the mat and trying to tap each other out and hitting some awesome reversals. We all know GENTARO is the king of making minimalistic mat stuff look awesome and he does lean into that here, but PSYCHO also has lots of really cool stuff in his sleeve. His cross arm/leglocks were pretty cool and he also had a nasty looking shin choke thing. They both get really into fighting over a Sharpshooter and it was probably some of the greatest Sharpshooter work I’ve honestly seen ever, with both guys busting out some really great reversals that I’ve not seen before, even for such a classic hold.

Osamu Nishimura vs. GENTARO, VKF 11/16/2015

Very nice match because they didn‘t go the predictable routine. Instead of tons of holds, they worked this as Nishimura the maestro teaching GENTARO a lesson. Nishimura would outgrapple him, and when GENTARO tried to go for punches Nishimura would absolutely rattle him with sick uppercuts. There was one really cool reversal from Nish where he twisted his way out of a bow and arrow and locked in a tight legbar on GENTARO. Very smartly worked match with a lot of selling where every move meant something. Very old school, probably the last great Nishimura match with GENTARO being a great dance partner and knowing his role perfectly.

Keita Yano Documentation #6

Keita Yano vs Roberto Tanaka, Ice Ribbon 3/10/2008 - GREAT

It's very early no-ring Keita. Say what you will about Emi Sakura, but she gave Keita the chance to explore this unique avenue of pro wrestling very early on. Roberto Tanaka apparently would go on to become Ultimate Spider Jr. (I am not sure there is an Ultimate Spider Sr.). Tanaka was a kick padded indy worker here which is just fine. He looked like a competent pro wrestler and had no problem going at it with Keita in a Keita style match. Some nice matwork early on, with Keita who at this point was a BattlARTS guy already dabbling into llaves and WoS type grappling, but also keeping that shootstyle in it. Tanaka gets stretched a lot, but also looked talented. He had a very nice takeover, and I really liked how he countered Keitas bridging chokehold. Tanaka has some hard kicks, really brains Keita in the head at one point, and nice dropkicks, including one where he flies off a chair which is a high spot in this small office space. Last 5 minutes are really awesome with both guys throwing vicious strikes and trying to submit each other. I was impressed they kept a solid pace for 15 minutes, even knowing Keita can be really great without a ring the stuff they did here put most other wrestlers to shame. Great match leaning slightly towards EPIC even which I did not expect coming in but holy fuck the last minutes of strike exchanges were great, Keita was beastly here clocking Tanakas jaw with european uppercuts and at one point just jumping on him and raining punches.

Keita Yano vs Ultimate Spider Jr, Wallabee 12/28/2014 - FUN

Another round of Keita magic in the Cerberus Dojo. His opponent, Ultimate Spider Jr was game to get torn up by Yanos llaves, but did not add much to the match up to that point. Yano domating a guy on the ground is always fun. Spider came a bit into his own a bit when he started fouling Yano and beating on him with pylons. Yano retaliated with a huge tope from the mat into the rows of the crowd. Instead of continueing the match in that spicier direction they settled for regular indy style ending run including Yano going for a tornado DDT off of the strength training equipment. Very fun match but I thought Spider Jr. didn't deliver much special and while Yano was good it did not quite stray into that realm of madness that makes a Cerberus Dojo classic.

Keita Yano Documentation Project

Hanako Nakamori Matches

 

Hanako Nakamori vs Arisa Nakajima, JWP 10/26/2014

Hanako Nakamori has been uploading some cool matches to her channel. This was beastly, basically your typical joshi match upgraded with some insane stiffness. Nakamori looked great here punting the fuck out of Nakajima with disgusting kicks over and over. I also really liked her Takeshi Ono-esque submission where she tied up Nakajima really fast. Nakajima annoyed me a bit early on somewhat no-selling Nakamori, but other than that she was fine and fired back against Nakajimas kick onslaught. She put some nice viciousness in her stomps, including a nasty face wash, and had some brutal elbows. At one point she grabbed Nakamoris head and just waffled her with open hand strikes. Highlights include an absolutely disgusting punt kick that cracked Nakajimas nose, a big spot where they both punched each other in the face, Nakajima rattling Nakamori with a big face stomp of her own, an insane spot where Nakamori hits a backwards headbutt to Nakajimas face. I also like that they stayed under 15 minutes really giving you just the right dose. Nakajimas comebacks were actually well timed and believable. I just love a big match with this level of insane strikes.

Hanako Nakamori vs Leon, JWP 10/10/2011

These two had another match in 2011 which was really great, this was a few months later, and also really damn great. This was a hell of a lot more hatefilled, as they start out brawling right away, and they keep working the match with a ton of palpable disdain for each other. Nakamori has transformed into a kick padded slug machine and she was kicking the living hell out of Leon here. I’ve never noticed Leon as a hard hitter before but she came back hard against Nakamoris onslaught, connecting with some pretty violent knees and kicks of her own, really making sure to give her a taste of her own medicine. There was this moment where they both slapped the taste out of each others mouths with Leon almost cracking Nakamoris jaw as she came charging back, and a totally uncalled for headbutt to the back of the head during the finishing stretch. Leon is this really graceful wrestler, who makes cool use of her spear and has a really big dive and cool ways to build to her back submissions. Those were some very cool bits of graceful wrestling in the middle of such a violent slugfest. It reminded me a bit of Otani/Orihara, it’s not often you see this kind of junior wrestling mixed with such hatred and face shattering kicks and stubbornness. After some stubborn back and forth early the second half of the match was just an epic struggle. Joshi often feels like transitions can happen at random, that wasn’t the case here as both of them did a great job fighting back to control and cutting each other off in nasty ways. Nakamoris face kicks were and I dug how she makes use of the Brock Lock. Match got a bit overkillish but then again it was a rematch of a pretty big match earlier that year. Tremendous stuff regardless, I cannot commend these two enough.

Hanako Nakamori & Tomoko Mori vs Leon & Neko Nitta, JWP 3/10/2013

The dynamic between Nakamori and Leon holds up well. These two are just awesome together. I really dig Leon with her quickness, use of the spear and cool submissions, and she is great at getting kicked really hard by Nakamori. The other two wrestlers in the match were cool oddities to check out. Joshi is full of random names that just fly under the radar. I’ve never heard or seen of Tomoko Mori but apparently she has been around since 2001 being trained by Kaoru Ito. She was a pretty solid wrestler and in the second half of the match busted out some cool STOs and a really sweet judo supex. Nitta apparently made her wrestling debut at the age of 32 and she is doing a cat girl gimmick having a tail. The tail being pulled is an amusing heel spot and her spinning tail attack that caught her opponent in the face was pretty nifty. Other than that she moved very well around the ring and didn’t do any comedy aside from comical amounts of nya, I also liked her big spin senton, so I was perfectly fine with this Neko Nitta. This was brisk tag team action and with the combination of the great Nakamori/Leon dynamic and two odd unique fun wrestlers made for a really cool match overall.

Command Bolshoi Treasure Trove #7

 Command Bolshoi vs. Azumi Hyuga, JWP 4/23/2006

These two have wrestled each other a lot and they have really special chemistry together. Starts out really solid with some smooth exchanges but gets really great towards the middle and end. These two pull off some great struggling for control sequences with insanely tight executen. There was also no random offense from Hyuga like she often likes to do. Finishing run was brief but really good and Bolshois surprise submissions and incredible counters kept the match interesting. This went pretty short which I appreciate a lot in a sea of bloated joshi singles. Very good match.

Command Bolshoi vs. Kayoko Haruyama, JWP 8/21/2005

These two had a really great match in 2010, and this was likewise pretty great. Less strikes were thrown, but the match was chock full of fantastic sequences and nifty surprise counters by Bolshoi. Haruyama had gotten quite good at this point and she kicked Bolshoi in the face hard a couple times. Good stuff that even the dark joshi period wasn't all so dark.

Command Bolshoi vs. Meiko Satomura DX, JWP 10/19/2014

It's 6 minutes of Bolshoi vs. Satomura with some weird interference from a bunch of masked characters in the middle. Still, any wrestling between these two is gonna be great, and damn do I need a singles match between these two. Not the greatest match when it comes to sprints, but it was a nice taste of what could be if they got together and had a real main event.

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.

Assorted Japan Indy Wrestling

 

Kazuhiro Tamura vs. Tatsumi Fujinami, Heat-Up 6/18/2014

 

I had no idea what to expect from this. Fujinami is old but can always go, but his opponent is a blip even on the indy radar. It easily could‘ve been a throwaway feelgood exhibition, but what we get is a really good little match! Fujinami grapples Tamura and looks really spry and motivated. There is some really cool MUGA vs. U-Style grappling with Fujinami busting out slick reversals of Tamuras armbars and Tamura trying to sink into his shootstyle holds. You actually don‘t see Fujinami stretch out and grapple often in his prime but he is a really cool maestro as an old man. When they stand up Fujinami gives Tamura a lot, even catching a dive from him and eating some hard kicks! The ending is inevitable, but this left me wholly pleased. Definitely one of the better Fujinami matches of the 21th century. 

 

Yuki Ishikawa vs. Shinjuku Shark, Fuyuki Army 4/8/2004

As a fan of both BattlARTs and sleazy indy martial artists, this match was sort of a dream match to me. And this was a really fun 7 minute match. I was delighted how well these two matched up. Ishikawa made it clear he wasn’t taking Shark seriously, but Shark caught him with some hard punches and unusual moves, including an abdominal stretch. Shark also did some really cool dodging and head bobbing which surprised even Ishikawa. Cool finish with Shark trying to block the Octopus Hold only to get pulled into a nifty rolling armbar.

Genichiro Tenryu & Masao Orihara vs. Riki Senshu & Masahiko Kochi, ?? 5/5/2010

Riki Senshu is a tiny guy doing a Riki Choshu impression, but playing it straight. Amusing little match which may have been better than some actual Tenryu/Choshu tags from the time due to Senshu and Kochi being more willing to take punishment. Orihara had his working boots on, Tenryu did the bare minimum which is still fun. Worth checking out.