A few matches from the Mutoha back catalogue

As always you can get them directly from the source through itako18jp     

Keita Yano vs. Ryoji Nagaya, Mutoha 2/26/2010 - EPIC

This was shortly before Yano transformed into the joker. Hell it may have been his first match in the Cerberus Dojo too, and you can really see him breathing the vibe in as he steps on the mat. He’s wearing this bright grappling suit that he didn’t wear often. He was like a Louis Wain painting, becoming more colourful and strange with his transformations over the years. This match was just classic Keita stuff, really clinical performance taking a guy apart. Opening minutes were quite great as Yano would basically lock in armlocks at will and yank Nagaya around like a demonstration of carny grappling. Really awesome Fuchi/Volk Hanisch performance from Yano displaying his skill and trying to bend Nagayas limbs in hellishly painful looking ways. Nagaya was this pudgy guy who briefly was Mutohas only trainee before he moved on to sleazier things. He was pretty much in for the fight of his life here, as Yano was all over him on the mat. He knew he had to bring the intensity and that he did. At one point they go into this scramble leading into a front headlock battle where they end up tumbling out the door of the venue. They get back into it as they step back on the mat. Nagaya finally gets an advantage when he gets Yano in an indian deathlock and he really tries his hardest to make the most out of that. Both guys end up trying to bend each other to the point of snapping and its awesome. As I said before Yano was just great here, always trying to grab Nagayas head and twist it off, or unscrew his wrist or ankle. Feels really like classic Fujiwara or El Dandy/Javier Llanes stuff as they would even work a basic lockup or wristlock with tremendous intensity. Nagaya is so outmatched on the mat that when he starts hitting Yano it really looks like he’s trying to maul him with his stomps and forearms. He had an awesome crowbarish spin kick and a big flip senton that was Mighty Inoue levels of crushing and completely unexpected. He hits his stuff with such conviction it looks like the realest shit ever. And Yano just kept trying to snap limbs. I also loved him retaliating with probably he hardest kick to someones kidney that I've ever seen. So yeah 20+ minutes of high intensity great matwork and some gritty Kurisu violence, this was a Cerebrus Dojo special and it was awesome.

Kikujiro Umezawa vs. Chojin Yusha G Valion, Mutoha 6/20/2010

Early Mutoha cards are just full of all kinds of obscure indy guys. How often do you see the likes of Chojin Yusha G Valion and Kikujiro Umezawa? So it’s really nice that we just get to see guys like that. This is a kind of awesome match. It’s not very stereotypically Mutoha – there Is not really any mat work or technical wrestling here. But it still feels very much in the vein of Mutoha. They simply did a very simple, straight forward big vs. small type match with total conviction that made it really compelling. Umezawa is a human bowling ball of a man, he has the vibe of an ex-sumo from the days of WAR or IWE. He exudes this sense of glee when he gets to beat on Valion with his open hand chops and headbutts. Neither guy has any offense that you haven’t seen before – Valion just as a really nice dropkick, and Umezawa totally owns every basic thing he does, every slam every shoulderblock just crushing the masked guy. Valion does have a pretty unique way to dropkick Umezawa at the top of his head, but that’s it pretty much. Umezawa hits a spear at one point that’s about the damndest spear you’ve ever seen, totally turning Valion inside out and leaving him a scrambled mess. But it’s such a perfectly well worked and executed match that it ends up being interesting all the way through with not a wasted moment. I think Valion doesn’t even dive off the top rope in this. The finish is just Valion hanging onto a sleeper for dear life and trying to get the tap. It totally fits with the theme of the match and what Mutoha was going for. Nothing flashy just raw pro wrestling executed extremely well.

Chon Shiryu vs. MASAKI, Mutoha 12/29/2013

A totally awesome little match. MASAKI is a sleazy karateka with tattoos who wrestles like a mini Akitoshi Saito, all really hard kicks and neck chops. Chon Shiryu is of course always awesome and they are fighting in Cerberus Dojo to boot. Shiryu is always doing something interesting, even when he’s working basic hold he manages to come across like a kung fu master punishing his opponent, and he makes sure to always add something even to things like resisting a boston crab. MASAKI has a bunch of awesome kick variations and he really lays hard into Shiryus skinny frame. He hit this one kind of floating spin kick that was straight out of Tekken. And we get a bit of kung fu vs karate strikes which is of course cool. The finish is awesome too as Shiryu trips MASAKI then just leaps to the ceiling and hits this sick ass stomp to the back of MASAKIs neck before finishing him off pretty fast. He hit it so out of nowhere it looked totally killer. I love watching Shiryu do his thing, and against an unseen cool wrestler like MASAKI it’s really a pretty sweet discovery.

Lumberjack Match: Iori Sugawara vs. Ho Death Minh, Mutoha 5/14/2022

A total sleazefest. This is a lumberjack match so you have all these crazy characters lurking around the ring. There’s Leatherface, Katsunari Toi, Diablo, freaking Ricky Fuji even… a big part of the fun of this match is just watching all these guys brawling. Most of the fans have their cameras out and this definitely seems like a photographers dream match. But there’s also a surprisingly great wrestling match in here. Sugawara is another sleazy karateka who is really sharp with his kicks. Death Minh is Poison Sawada doing a crazy facepainted evil Vietcong gimmick, for those who don’t know. They cut a great pace and never really slow down, keeping the intensity up working some tight submissions and toe to toe fighting in the ring and always trying to throw the opponent to the outside for the lumberjacks to cause chaos. There’s also some measured and painful looking use of foreign objects. Vasaru Ikeuchi ends up interfering a bit too liberally and it causes an even bigger brawl with everyone jumping each other. By the end it’s almost like a Memphis match with Sugawara unloading a punch combo in the corner on Sawada and destroying him with his kicks, with Sawada trying to work the leg headbutting away at the knee. It’s delightfully old school and really sound. Sawada took a ton of punishment (considering how old and frail he looks) and Sugawara looked badass. Really unique and just amazingly fun.

Takahiro Tababa vs Yuki Takasugi, Mutoha 2017/11/4

This was another unusual match for Mutoha because Tababa just goes after Takasugi with a vengeance and beats the hell out of him with shoot kicks and chairs. Tababas kicks are sick looking and Takasugi is pretty fun here hitting 70s style flip sentons with full bodyweight on Tababa to retaliate. Fun and violent, but pretty short. The finish is really cool though as Takasugi goes for an old school backbreaker hold but Tababa slips to the back and yanks him back for a choke that he locked in so deep Takasugis face turned blue. Cool.

Keita Yano Documentation 

Assorted Ice Ribbon

 

Kiku vs Tsukasa Fujimoto, Ice Ribbon 4/12/2022

I liked Kiku in the one match I’ve seen of her, and I know Tsukasa is a pretty respectable wrestler, so I decided to check this out. This is at the beginning of Kikus career so she is still taking rookie punishment, i.e. 5 dropkicks from Kiku can’t knock Tsukasa down and so on. However just when she looks hopeless Kiku is able to hit a surprise body slam, allowing her to go for her signature submission, which Tsukusa resists against with all her might. Kiku In a smart move drags Tsukasa to the floor and locks in a figure 4, which Tsukasa sells as actually damaging. This sets up the surprisingly intense second half with both of them slapping the shit out of each other and hitting some hard kicks. Basic stuff but very well done.

Asahi vs Tae Honma, Ice Ribbon 6/11/2022

Pretty different type of match for Ice Ribbon. No comedy or time wasting, instead they grappled and stubbornly went for the armbar. Asahi in particular had lots of slick ways to tie up her opponent and try to bend her arm out of the shoulder, though Honma does also look good. Some really well timed flash submissions and roll ups here, which is kind of the best case scenario for an Ice Ribbon match. There was also a great struggle over a Tiger Suplex at one point. Won’t make you forget ARSION, but it’s a fine unique piece of pro wrestling.

Chon Shiryu vs Kiku, Ice Ribbon 5/6/2023

Another great little match from Chon Shiryu, what are the odds? The man just keeps on delivering every chance he gets. This is pretty rad 7 minute match. It’s almost all Shiryu, though Kiku is cool too. Kiku now has a frying pan that she hits people with for the obligatory once-per-match comedy spot (god I hate Japan sometimes), but Shiryu turns that frying pan against her, hitting Kiku spine-first with the frying pan against the apron in an actually painful looking spot. I really buy that a kung fu master would know how to use a frying pan to hurt someone in unique ways. Shiryu then does a real workmans job working over Kikus spine with nasty elbows and a cool springboard stomp. Shiryu just keeps doing cool shit. Kiku only has two brief comebacks, although they are fun. Finish is fucking great as Kiku get Shiryu down and desperately goes for her signature submission but Shiryu pulls her over, locking in a submission of his own for the tap.

Asuka Fujitaki vs YuuRI, Ice Ribbon 6/8/2024

Really fun 8 minute match that had a lot of good stuff packed into it. Fujitaki is a thickly built girl, who has both fun ways to crash into her opponent as well as some skill. Fujitaki displays some cool submissions, and YuuRI tries to beat her in ratty ways. YuuRI actually has some pretty fun well timed kicks of her own. Apparently Fujitaki has gone under several different names notably as Grizzly Fujitaki and now Asuka Goda, I should probably watch more of her because this was cracking.

Asahi vs Saori Anou, Ice Ribbon 12/31/2022

Really good stuff here, no doubt. Starts really nice with an intense lock up. They move through some actually impressive slick sequences with some cool bridging spots. Asahi eventually gets Anou in an armbar which Anou sells as a big deal and Asahi takes control working over Anous arm. Really nice control segment with well done attempted comebacks and cutoffs. The build from Asahi being firmly in control to the match slipping away from her was really good I thought, as such I didn’t even have a huge problem with her no selling because it gave the sense that she was desperate to maintain control. It was a bit iffy when they did the chest forearms but then Asahi did these cool double handed blows to Anous face and Anou retaliated with a thudding enzuigiri of her own. Last couple minutes actually felt gritty due to Asahi trying her damndest to snap Anous arm. There is some sloppiness and they do get carried away with an assload of nearfalls but that’s joshi sometimes, the build and substance here were a lot better than your typical joshi movesfest though. Thought Asahi looked quite good here, she put some real heft into her forearms and the arm attacks were cool, I wonder what she’s been up t- oh, apparently she died in an accident not long after this. Bummer to say the least.

Ice Ribbon Club Ice Ribbon Match Vol. 2 3/30/2022

 Adversity Nine: Tsukasa Fujimoto vs Kaho Matsushita vs Saran vs Nao Ishikawa vs Yuuki Mashiro vs Asahi vs Ibuki Hoshi vs Totoro Satsuki vs Tsukushi

Adversity 9 baby. I really really enjoyed the 2011 version of this crazy concept, so I was really curious what the 2022 Ice Ribbon roster would do with the concept. To remind: This is a double gauntlet match, everybody fights each other, twice, in about 72 consecutive singles matches each with a 1 minute time limit. And for the most part, yeah this is really good! Basically 8 rounds of grueling hell sprints that got incredibly intense in parts. The thing with the 2011 match was that the weakest wrestlers would get moved to the back, here it was the other way around with everyone facing the weaker opponents first and at the end having to survive against Tsukushi and then Tsukasa Fujimoto. That made the dynamic a bit different, but still really interesting. The format is great because it makes any basic pinfall, roll up or boston crab into credible nearfalls. And you get these intense, unique moments like the almost amateur-like forcing of a pinfall, or having to survive a boston crab. So anything can finish, and everyone is in out of the match quickly enough to not get exposed, and when they have to face the gauntlet each individual character shines.

So like with most modern joshi I am hardly familiar with the kind of wrestlers that Ice Ribbon had in 2022. I vaguely know Tsukasa and Tsukushi. Tsukasa is a good ace figure with some hard kicks and works well as a tough final test for everyone, she was also hellbent on hitting people with the Japanese Ocean Suplex, but I was surprised by the kind of violence Tsukushi brought. She’s under 5 feet tall but was really brutalizing people, crushing faces with sick low dropkicks, trying to drill through people with double stomps. Her double stomp to poor Nao Ishikawas spine was especially evil as Ishikawa had just spent a minute surviving a boston crab. I’m pretty sure she also kneed someone in the throat at some point.

Of all the wrestlers I didn’t know I think I liked Satsuki the most. She’s just a big old tank and having her in there to crush people with splashes and slams is a nice different vibe to break up the dropkicks-and-rollups generic joshi stuff that many others in the match were doing. Thought her segment was really impressive as she worked some great stuff with everyone, I also got a kick out of when she submitted someone by simply squishing them when they attempted to backslide her, really unique and made perfect sense. Ibuki Hoshi is a fun chopping machine and Asahi had some cool submissions. The others were a lot more basic and generic, which is not necessarily a bad thing, and had some moments but didn’t stand out in a major way. The one negative standout was Mashiro who really took out the intensity with her silly bullshit a few times, unnecessary in a match where everyone else was working hard to keep the intensity high for like 70 minutes, even when she tried to wrestle seriously she wasn’t much good, she hit some dropkicks where even the commentator was yelling that she’s not hitting her target at all. Also Saran is like 13 and the others weren’t going easy on her at all which made her gauntlet part quite insane, though she did get a kind of epic rush at the end, pretty unique and one of those ‘pro wrestling is real as fuck’ moments that you only really get in Japan. In total this wasn’t as good as the 2011 match but definitely still really good. The wrestling didn’t reach the same heights as you didn’t really have any Emi Sakura-Hikaru Shida-Chii Tomiya type in the match to elevate things to that level but the intensity was great and there lots of great moments.

The Library

Konaka in the Sportiva Arena

 

Konaka vs. Sae, Sportiva 5/11/2022

Super good Konaka carryjob. Sae is kind of not very good, only having some bland offense and almost breaking her own neck when going for a Kamikaze roll, but Konaka pulls her through this 18 minute match just fine. Opening work is pretty solid with Konaka making things like taking a basic bump for a shoulder tackle satisfying by having it set up with a rope move. Soon we move on to the best part of the match, Konaka working a side headlock of Destroyer-esque greatness. Usually with side headlock segments it’s the guy stuck in the headlock making it interesting by trying different escapes, but in this case Konaka is the guy keeping things interesting by having a bunch of different ways to pull Sae back into the headlock. Later he keeps going for headlock crossfaces and neck attacks, at one point he was cranking a facelock like crazy and digging his fist into Saes face in brutal fashion, it was like something fucked up Ole Anderson or Tully Blanchard would do to a jobber in a 80s TV studio squash. Finishing stretch was really good with a bunch of cool moments centered around Sae going for a dragon sleeper of all things, a superplex bump that felt epic, Konaka missing a big attack off the top and a completely awesome finish. Real master performance from Konaka getting the most out of a limited opponent.

Konaka vs Shinya Ishida, 3/17/2021

For a white meat highflying babyface, I am pretty okay with Shinya Ishida. He has good offense, and he is capable of adding neat touches like connecting with a surprisingly punishing kick between moves, or doing some stubborn matwork. Most importantly is good enough to let Konaka do his thing and not interfere. This was a result very good. They start with some neat fast sequences before Konaka cuts off Ishida in a cool way and does some work on the arm. Ishida makes a solid comeback and then acknowledges said armwork by giving it back to Konaka in kind. Ishidas brutal stomp to Konakas ankle was probably the highlight, it looked just sick. The second half had a bunch more good stuff and neat moments that Konaka has a knack for, I also really liked the well worked chokehold segment they did, it shows Ishida is more capable than your usual spotty indy guy. Very decent stuff and anytime Konaka gets to stretch out and do his thing is a gem.

Konaka vs Kazuhiro Tamura, Sportiva 3/16/2022

I love Konaka and I know Tamura can be pretty great when he tries. Still, this slightly exceeded my expectations. Delivers exactly the kind of cool, unique matwork you hope for from the match up, and it delivers that in spades. What I love about Konaka is that because of his mysterious act, he is believable doing just about anything. I buy his weird reverse spinning toehold just as much as buy him locking in an achilles hold or rolling calf slicer. So him grappling with U-File guy Tamura is really cool. They settle for a work the arm vs work the leg story and they both have a bunch of really cool ways to attack a limb. Tamuras selling of the legwork wasn’t the greatest but our guy Konaka was stellar as always.

Assorted Mutoha

 As always, buy them on X or thebase!

Unicorn Rules: Yasushi Sato & Konaka & G Valion vs. Hiroshi Watanabe & Masamune & Super Crafter U, Mutoha 7/22/2021

35 minutes of sweet wrestling, like you expect from this killer lineup. This was Unicorn Road rules which means the 1^st fall was a singles between Konaka and Crafter, 2^nd a tag between Sato/Valion and Watanabe/Masamune and the 3^rd a 6 man between all participiants. Konaka/Crafter was really good, the shootstyle submissions of Crafter mesh very well with Konakas more esoteric pro style approach and it was awesome to watch Konaka figure his way out of Crafters shoot leglocks, really good little technical match and Crafter blasting his opponent with brutal looking kicks was awesome as always. 2^nd fall had some awesome grappling from Masamune and sweet exchanges between him and Yasushi Sato. Masamune is really good when he’s just grappling and not doing Kurt Angle shit, he had some amazing counters, honestly he may have been the best guy in the match, he looked like a grappling machine. I would’ve liked to see a bit more of Sato vs Masamune because these two just trying to put the other guys shoulders down for the 3 is always awesome to watch, but then again I always want to watch more Yasushi Sato. Valion is the weakest guy in the match, I was interested in what he would bring to the table but in this murderers row of fantastic grapplers he doesn’t stand out a ton but he was alright and I liked his series of quick DDTs and odd submission. 3^rd fall didn’t have as much grappling and some slightly odd moments such as a random ref bump that had no effect on the match, however both teams looked like they were trying to finish the match and Yasushi Sato held the ending run together with his cool submissions, russian leg sweeps and neat touches. This was kind of like a pro wrestling mixtape with 6 really unique wrestlers bringing a ton to the table, just really cool to watch.

Kenichiro Arai vs. Masamune, 3/19/2022

30 minutes of mostly matwork. Strictly for the technical wrestling freaks but if you can’t get into something like that, what the hell are you doing reading this? They started out basic but put some amazing details into their otherwise basic holds and transitions, and continued in that fashion throughout the match putting some gritty struggle into hings. Masamune is always game to just grapple it out and it was really cool watching him trying to put Arais shoulders down for the 3 with his more amateur style flourishes while Arai is just the king of grabbing a basic hold and cranking it to the maximum. Arai paying tribute to Giant Baba with an ultra tight full nelson into the leg nelson was a really nice moment. I really liked how Arai sold vulnerability by selling his leg after missing a knee drop and seemed to be close to self destruction when he went for a couple flying axe handles. I am a bit tired of ankle locks at this point but Masamune chess match approach to the hold worked for me. They meandered a bit on occasion but overall this was very good and fascinating to watch if you were a fan of GENTARO/Arai already this should definitely go on your watch list too.

 

Kenji Takeshima vs. Hikaru Sato Mutoha 11/14/2015

Pretty badass no-ring shootstyle match that exceeded expectations. This match is compelling because of their difference in ranking and because of how competitive they make it feel. They really put over the fact that Satos kicks are bombs, Takeshima was Fujiwaralike in catching them early on and taking Sato down, however as soon as Sato started landing the kicks Takeshima was getting destroyed. Takeshima comes back hitting a desperation headbutt and they go into this Lawler/Mantell style headbutt exchange while selling the accumulating brain trauma. Eventually they start shit talking each others promotions (causing the 20 people in attendance to start a “BattlARTS” chant). They move back into a straight shootstyle finish. I love how Takeshima laid on that Achilles Hold, he really looked like he wanted to force the tap more than anything else in his life. Good, really competitive feeling stuff, pretty unexpected from a match with no ring in front of 20 people.

PSYCHO vs Koju Takeda, Mutoha 1/14/2018

Bit of a different favour for Mutoha with this match. No extended technical wrestling section this is just PSYCHO putting a scumbag rudo beating on Takeda. A lot of really cool stuff from PSYCHO in this, trying to screw Takedas neck with some nasty moves, knees to the face, hard elbows, and his cool cross armbar variations. Takeda is a 666 guy who is ridiculously good looking, in terms of wrestling he does just basic stuff but all well executed and I guess that’s just fine, he is a good foil for scummy PSYCHO. Really fun match that serves as an excellent showcase for all the cool stuff PSYCHO can do.

 

Exploring Pure-J Pt. II

 Leon & AKARI vs Rydeen Hagane & KAZUKI, Pure-J 7/4/2021

It’s a bit of a shame that this Pure-J stuff is so under the radar. Sure, it’s behind a paywall on their YouTube channel, but matches like this are well worth a couple dollars. For a dojo show tag match this was pretty great. Awesome hard hitting exchanges between Leon and Rydeen, and Kazuki and AKARI more than hold up. Rydeen is a really fun powerhouse, and the more I watch Leon the more I think she’s one of the best wrestlers around. Leon is just so incredibly sharp, and her ability to build bigger moments is what makes her stand out. Just the way she will set up her signatures to hit them in more exciting ways make her stand out. AKARI is really cool here, lots of slick leglock takeovers from her, and KAZUKI also brought some fun stuff to the table mostly focussing on attacking peoples mid section here. Some great cut off and double team spots as well.

Leon vs Rydeen Hagane, Pure-J 7/22/2021

Badass match between two great wrestlers. I don’t know why you don’t hear more praise for Rydeen Hagane, she brings a lot of cool shit to the table. Just the way she would slam Leon down with a cool judo throw really sets her apart from other heavyweight monster types. This was a really good long form title match with an unpredictable layout. Obviously Leon is a huge show with all the cool stuff she can do, but I thought Hagane also held up, and it turned into a hard fought match. Big vs little psychology was in place and it provided lots of neat moments, Leon putting on scarecrow submissions, Rydeen powering out of Leons offense in cool ways, Leon finding nifty ways to slow down Rydeen etc. Rydeen has a few impressive reversals of Leons stuff, picking her up for hard slams and big throws occasionally. I also loved Leon increasing the grittiness of the match, headbutting Rydeen in the back of the head to set up a suplex, her spin kicks hitting like a truck, double stomping Rydeen for good measure etc. Leon just comes across as such a force in this, cool submissions, hard hitting, slick movements, and Hagane was an impressive tough wall trying to swat her down. Great stuff that should be on peoples radars when it comes to 2020s joshi.

KAZUKI vs Rydeen Hagane, Pure-J 4/10/2022

KAZUKI is hit and miss, but she was hitting it here. Basically Rydeen Hagane starts dropping bombs immediately on Kazuki, swatting her with some hard hitting lariats. It looks like KAZUKI is done in, but she is able to knee Hagane in the head and go for the arm. KAZUKI then does an impressive job stopping the monster by going for the arm relentlessly and hitting cool knee attacks, I love any wrestler who makes something like a kitchen sink look special. KAZUKI had some really cool arm attacks such as a nifty monkey flip into an armbar. I continue to enjoy Hagane as she continues to add touches that make her matches more interesting than the usual heavyweight affair, in this case trying to strangle KAZUKI with a nasty sleeper when she went for a too predictable arm attack. Cool stuff and the finish with the weird armlock was badass.

Hanako Nakamori vs Leon, Pure-J 7/18/2022

Some really good fast paced hard hitting pro wrestling here. Obviously these two have offense for days, but the way they move between everything is outstanding. Pretty much no let down in this at all, and they pull off some really slick stuff. Really like their dynamic with Nakamori having her vicious kicks and Leon focussing on her spear variations. There was some leg work which Nakamori didn’t really sell, which is too bad because Leon did a nice job taking her leg out locking in some cool leglocks and hitting a nifty spear to the leg, Leon is just the queen of the spear if you ask me. Finishing run had some evil moments such as a few vicious headbutts, Leon throwing a straight punch at one point and Nakamori kicking her in the face. Not as good as their matches earlier in the decade, Nakamoris kick were looking a little weak here and there and there were some things that felt a little cliché like the double KO spots, that said this was still well worth watching.

Exploring PURE-J

 

Leon vs Yuu, Pure-J 5/4/2022

Great title match. The more I watch Leon the more I realize she’s one of the most skilled wrestlers around. Yuu is a pretty simplistic straight forward wrestler, all splashes, sentons and thundering chops, and it’s really fun to watch Leon work a big match around that. Basically the story here is that Yuu is a brick wall and Leon would have to barrage her to break her down. Really enjoyed the submission work here. There wasn’t any limbwork or something like that, it was very in the moment with Leon going for a rolling kimura at one point and Yuu just grabbing the sleeper when she could. Love Leons spears and her making sure to target Yuus mid section some more when she hit her big splash. I admit Yuu isn’t super interesting and could’ve done a better job with her selling here or there but other than that this a really good match, really puts the PURE in PURE-J as they stayed in the ring the whole time and did a straight forward match with no bullshit, something that wouldn’t hurt to see in other joshi organizations.

Blanca Maho vs Momo Tani, Pure-J 10/14/2024

Blanca Maho is this ex-kickboxer who throws lots of awesome kicks, so it’s really nice to see her in a lengthy singles match for a title. I am not familiar with Momo Tani, she is one of those frail looking wrestlers with a very pretty outfit, so I wasn’t sure how good she would be, but it turns out she’s a competent wrestlers too with lots of cool knee strikes, and she looked good when she was on top controlling the match with holds. She also had some cool suplexes and a slick transition where she moved herself to the ring apron. Just her foreram smashes need some work. Mahos kicks were awesome, her chest kicks were really popping Momo, and she has a bunch of different variations, and this match has a really good pace without becoming too much. Really fun to check this out, Blanca Maho looks to be a star in the making.

Chie Ozora vs Risa Sera, 9/15/2024

This is a really good match, mainly because of Chie Ozora. Ozora is this really non-threatening wrestler, she’s short, wears a hoodie in the ring, and doesn’t exactly have a dangerous build, but oh my god she does give her opponent hell here. Really really good fired up underdog performance from her. I loved her viciously going for the arm, and she just kept coming. Sera won’t blow your mind, but she does a good job keeping Ozora down with nasty knee drops and her arm selling was solid. Some great spots and nearfalls here especially Ozoras roll ups. Great underdog vs champion match.

Megumi Yabushita vs KAZUKI, Pure-J 5/3/2022

It’s too bad Megumi Yabushita doesn’t make tape often, because even at 50 years old she looked cool as fuck here. She had all these awesome slick legbar reversals and a judo throw that spiked her opponent. KAZUKI kind of sucked here, but sometimes you just want to enjoy a cool one woman show. The finish is a flying armbar. I’ve probably seen a thousand flying armbars and this one may have been the most spectacular I’ve seen ever.

Tanomusaku Toba Documentation Project #25

 Tanomusaku Toba & Tyson Maeguchi & Keisuke Ishii vs Shuichiro Katsumura & Takeshi Okada & Yumehito Imanari, Ganbare Pro 2/5/2022 - FUN

Pretty fun 6 man tag with TOBA~ spicing things up. Man I probably would never watch this if Tanomusaku Toba was not in it. Thankfully he is here, having some brief awesome exchanges with everyone and punching people in the face. He’s old, slow, but he’s seen in it all and can anticipate his opponents in such a way that they are sure to get punched in the face. His first exchange with Okada really had that feel. Toba even ends up taking Imanaris hot tag eating some hard chops and lariats. Everybody else here is a bit half baked and indyriffic, with not a ton of selling as everyone gets their shit in, but they are able to create some fun moments. Even Maeguchi, a shooter who likes to throw lots of kicks and open handed strikes, annoyed me somewhat with his irritating high pitched yelling. At the end he and Katsumura were able to have a decent PANCRASE-ish exchange into a cool finish with Katsumura hanging on to a ninja choke. Still, fuck that: TOBA~!

Tanomusaku Toba vs KAZMA, Ganbare Pro 8/11/2017 - GREAT

I haven’t heard much about KAZMA. He’s seemingly been around forever. So long that he was in BML. So long that he was in WWE one time. And apparently even did at least one match in TNA? Then he kind of went into an infinite loop of having multiman matches in promotions like GLEAT and Dragon Gate and WRESTLE-1 and the corpse of Pro Wrestling NOAH where there’s no chance I’ll ever watch him. I definitely don’t remember anyone ever coming out as a KAZMA Sakamoto fan. But fuck all that, KAZMA is facing Tanomusaku Toba now, and when you face TOBA it’s ride or die. Tanomusaku Toba is pretty much Everyone Has a Plan Until They Get Punched in the Face: The Wrestler and that really makes all his matches into something special. Right at the bell Toba is punching KAZMA in the face really hard. And, well, maybe KAZMA really is an underrated great of the indies and has been illuminating all those GLEAT and Wrestle-1 tags with a kind of greatness that people have unfairly failed to notice. Or getting punched in the face by Tanomusaku Toba has awoken something in KAZMA. Either way, Toba beats the living dog shit out of KAZMA here, with the super close camera work being pretty great as we get all these close handheld shots of KAZMAs soul leaving and re-entering his body. It turns into a brawl fast as they lay into each other on the floor. KAZMA actually puts violence into all his stuff – even his open-handed-probably-learned-from-Lord-Tensai-WWEish punches look sick, and there is some serious grit as Toba stonewalls an attempt at lazy brawling and punches KAZMA in the face some more, and we get close up handheld shots of KAZMA laying on the floor after getting his bell rung, and Tobas aging-kind-of-pudgy body being flung into the chairs. Back in the ring KAZMA contiues to match the tone putting some nice violence into all his stuff, really trying to crack Tobas frail old body. and Toba only knows one thing. Old Man Toba doesn’t really do any of the fancier kick and punch variations anymore that he would do in his younger days, all he knows is forward with straight rights driving into KAZMAS face and it’s awesome. That kind of simplicity is well appreciated and totally works for me. This thing kind of ruled. Does KAZMA rule? No clue, but he looked good in a gritty 10 minute match getting punched in the face a lot and giving back some violence. That’s a well worthy achievement in any wrestlers career.

Tanomusaku Toba Documentation Project

Keita Yano Documentation #5

 

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

I wasn’t sure how deathmatch guy Drew Parker would do going 30 minutes in a technical clinic, but he does fine. Maybe even one of Keitas better dance partners in a while. We start with lots of really beautiful hold for hold wrestling that felt reminiscent of a 70s classic without being too much of a rehash. Parker had some nice movements, particularily his bridging. There was plenty of struggle and Keita mixing in shootish counters. Whenever Drew could he would grab ahold of Yanos fingers and bend them in nasty ways. I loved how Keita, after making a solid pro wrestling comeback following a Parker control segment, immediately made sure to start stomping on Drews fingers. Subsequently whenever Parker would try any offense Keita would go for his hands and wrists. I also loved how Keita, when Drew went to taunt him immediately punched him in the face. I didn’t have a problem with Parkers comebacks and his offense focussed on moves that didn’t use his hands. The one weak pint was Parkers crossface – that really needed a bit more selling after how much work Keita had done on his hand. Keita responding to a somewhat limp wristed forearm by headbutting Drew right in the fucking face is why Keitas so great. Last 3^rd was almost all Keita just doing so much crafty intricate shit. Drew had few comebacks mostly basic rollups which worked extremely well, he was overwhelmed trying to survive and going for basic stuff whenever there was an opening, his Magistral cradle was definitely the most memorable Magistral I’ve seen in a while. Didn’t really like the draw finish as by all logic Keita should have had the victory here. Anyways, it was a very intricate, smart old school epic with lots of beautiful wrestling and a certified Keita masterpiece if you ask me.

 

Keita Yano Documentation Project

Mutoha Customer Reviews #3

 

Yasushi Sato vs. Hideya Iso, Mutoha 5/21/2017

Another awesome Yasushi Sato singles, what are the odds? What rules about this is that it’s two grimy little guys with amateur backgrounds. It’s like Honda vs. Honda. They start with 10 minutes of grappling and it’s really good, I loved all the takedowns, and the teasing of the suplexes. Sato catches Iso in a nasty armlock stretching his fingers and wrist, and quickly starts decimating him with his cool suplexes and Russian Leg Sweeps. Iso counters a Sato attempted suplex with an amazing rolling leg lock and it’s on. Isos more traditional moveset makes for a nice contrast against Satos weird grapevine moves and rough tactics. I love how Sato uses the Russian Leg Sweep so much, it’s a really cool equalizer when he grapevines the leg and drops his opponent out of nowhere. There’s an awesome sequence built around Iso trying to counter the dreaded Russian, and the finish is great. Iso is a really cool character as he’s old and doesn’t look like much but can always catch you with a technical move, and it makes for a super fun match up against Sato. Great stuff, another gem.

GENTARO vs. Yasushi Sato, Mutoha 3/19/2022

20 minutes of insanely fun, inventive technical matwork between two guys who are close to maestros. Tons of freaky pin attempts, and there was one short arm scissor battle that was amazing. It says a lot about how good these two are that they can do something fresh and cool with such an ancient hold. Both guys getting frustrated and entangling each other in the ropes was really fun, too. I was expecting some russian leg sweeps from Sato, but he just stuck to being a master of the cradle here. It seems GENTARO injured his leg for real about 20 minutes in so they just did a quick finish, but it was a good finish. As technical and eccentric as the rest of the match.

More Assorted Japanese Indy Wrestling

 

Diablo vs. Hideaki Sumi, Riki Office 9/26/2010

This was really fucking cool, a karateka vs. a vicious brawler in a chain match. Sumis kicks and punches were great and Diablo was kicking ass here, bloodying his opponent, throwing punches, using chairs and the chain etc. I would have liked to see Sumi kick a bit more ass but for a kind of fast, brief asskicking resulting in blood and mist this was really cool.

 

 

Mentai Kid & Billy Ken Kid vs. Genkai & Ryuta Chikuzen (Kyushu Pro 4/16/2018)

Pretty great match which oddly enough was largely built around the two highflyers doing lots of nasty bodypart work and stiff blows to the grizzled heavyweights. Opening sections were very nice, they kept things simple but worked a scale higher than basic. Match gets really great once BKK hits a double stomp to Chikuzen. They follow up with both Kids unleashing some brutal work on Chikuzens mid section. The whole section was really great and full of nasty stomps, spin kicks, punch combos and excellent cut offs. It’s weird to see a guy like Billy Ken Kid work really stiff and just tag people hard and drop hefty looking bombs but here we are. GENKAI was pretty great in the match too, he largely cut out the WWE spots and was just kicking dudes really hard and hurling them around with hard suplexes. Chikuzen had a Taue-ish vibe, gangly lumbering dude with odd athleticism who will hurl himself at you. GENKAI ended up working overtime to carry his damaged partner through the match and did an amazing job. I dug all the build to the big moves, and that they largely avoided overkill since basic moves like a fallaway slam or hip drop were hitting in brutal fashion. Awesome big match with tremendous heat.

 

Hiroaki Taniguchi vs. Katsumi Oribe, Move-On Pro Wrestling 7/13/2022

 Very cool match which felt a bit like a modern day WAR heavyweight clash. It was a bit slower and not quite as gritty but both guys made full use of the empty arena here leathering the hell out of each other with grimy strikes and slams. Oribe is great, he's a karateka and he throws really beautiful kicks just trying to cave his opponents chest in. Taniguchi is a bit of a slow bloated guy but his slams and lariats were really violent, he also had this really great big splash targetting Oribes back. Some more tricked out sequences than you'd expect, I liked how they didn't just go braindead with endless shoulderblocks and no selling like Japanese heavyweight wrestling often does. I normally dislike the superkick to kneeling opponent but Oribe was hitting them more like thrust kicks and almost taking Taniguchis head off. Good shit.

2022 MOTY List Update #6

Akira Jo & Yusaku Ito vs. White Moriyama & Kyosuke Sasaki, HEAT-UP 12/25/2022

Fun sleazeballs vs. shooters type match. Akira Jo used to be an Inoki guy, but he's really lost his way and become something that crawled out of a Masao Orihara type primordial soup. Lots of Jo/Ito trying to rake eyes and getting punished by stiff kicks and entangled in submissions. They worked had and worked an unusual structure with the outmatched heels being almost the underdogs. Ex-Futen guys were quite good, with Moriyama maybe being the best guy in the match. The main reason I am adding this though is the finish, where Moriyama and Ito were absolutely annihilating each other with FUTEN level headbutts and kicks. Didn't know that schlub Ito had that in him. Maybe the best finish of 2022

CHANGO vs. TORU, TTT 10/15/2022

Surprisingly good match. CHANGO reminded me a bit of a guy like AKIRA or Eddie Guerrero, a scuzzy technical heel who was willing to do whatever it takes to win. This includes lots of clever cheating and use of foreign objects, faking an injury, some gritty legwork on TORU’s leg, bailing cowardly, even using the apron to tie up his opponent. He also had a pretty violent looking diving knee to TORUs head, and some cool looking jumping axe kicks. Both guys trading stiff shots while fighting over a superplex reminded me of one of those stubborn 90s NJPW junior title matches, and the culmination was a sick headbutt that draw hardway blood. CHANGOs big dive was also pretty spectacular and felt epic due to happening late in the match at a critical point. The spray was a visually impressive foreign object to use and looked gnarly in combination with the blood. Toru was a bit subdued in the first half of the match, but his jaw-cracking elbows to put down the annoying CHANGO were great, I also loved his big dropkick which landed flush in CHANGOs face and he carried himself like Chango was not on his level the whole time and Changos counter tactics felt desperate in the process. Excellent big match in total.

2022 MOTY List

Tenryu Project 11/13/2022 - Part 1

 

Don Fujii vs. Kohei Sato

Haven’t seen a Fujii match in a while, but based on this I should probably watch some. Fuji is all kinds of fun here sumo rushing Sato, trying to force a count out, hitting cool lariats and chops and a big knee drop. It could have been a cool under 5 minute match had Sato done anything at all but he simply won with a sloppy Magistral after absorbing all of Fujis cool offense. What, you’re Kohei Sato, are you not gonna at least recklessly potatoe your opponent with a headbutt or something?

Keita Yano vs. Naoki Tanizaki - SKIPPABLE

Wow, Tanizaki may be one of the worst wrestlers I’ve ever seen. He’s sloppy, adds nothing interesting to the mat exchanges, and out of position. Yano makes the most of this stretching this guy a bit although it was quite painful watching him trying to make something out of a guy who messes up the easiest stuff. Yano is still able to work a crafty finish, so go Yano!

Hikaru Sato vs. Kouki Iwasaki

Good stuff early on with Iwasaki trying to outgrapple the Pancrase veteran early on. I’ve no idea if I would be into what Iwasaki is usually doing with way different guys than this, but he had basic skills and I found him engaging. Second half was really good with Sato constantly attacking the arm and some stiff, unpredictable kicks being thrown. Few neat counter spots, especially dug the struggle over Sato trying to throw Iwasaki over his targeted arm. Crafty finish. This well exceeded expectations. 

Added to 2022 MOTY List

Mizuki Watase vs. Takuro Niki

This Takuro Niki guy is spunky. He gets on Watases grill and bitchslaps him in the mouth, causing Watase to jump him and beat on him in the ropes for a cheap DQ win. Watase annoys me with his no selling but at least I am looking forward to seeing more of Takuro Niki.

SUSHI vs. Kenichiro Arai vs. Rey Paloma vs. Masayuki Kono

In theory, a 4 way with these guys in their working boots could be fun considering you have two tricky technical wrestlers and two big lugs in Sushi and Kono there. In reality it was mail-it-in city with lots of butt-centric comedy.

 

Keita Yano Documentation Project 

The Library

Keita Yano Documentation #4

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

Really great match which I have no problem calling a BattlARTS classic. Back then a lot of BattlARTS diehards hated Yano for bringing some of his whackier ideas into that promotion, but to me he added a lot to this match. He has hanging really well with Usuda on the mat, producing some really good straight shootstyle exchanges, he was able to credibly to do some damage to Usuda standing and otherwise, and he added plenty of neat touches such as turning a stretch into his cool bridging choke during the last few minutes. When Usuda started blasting him with kicks, he would take Usuda down and immediately try to take the wind out of him with some vicious knees on the ground. Later he‘d cut Usuda off with a flurry of open hands and spinning backhand before nailing Usuda with a nasty dropkick to the head. The one questionable thing he did was the attempted lariat from the ropes, and that led to him getting kicked in the face. Usuda was tremendous here, really punishing Keita with painful holds and some of the most brutal kicks ever caught on film. He did a tremendous job turning Keitas zealousness against him while also selling for him and allowing him just enough offense to not look like a chump. All-time series of brutal kicks leading to one of the sickest match endings of all time was one hell of a way to end this. Incredible match considering Yano was barely in his second year as a wrestler.

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

I remember watching this at the time. Yanos Joker makeup was new and we all thought he was losing his mind. Little did we know what was to come. This was about as good as I remember it being, lots of really fun matwork with Yano doing some cool unorthodox chokeholds and both guys ripping each others legs up. Yano did hit some great looking european uppercuts and aside from one slightly awkward lariat he had no goofs. And Ishikawa was Ishikawa. I felt like it didn’t quite push into next level territory but it was a really good match up.

 

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

Nice match between two guys who totally have an epic in them. This was just a 3rd match on the card so they didn‘t exactly go all out, but it was all in all one of the niftiest matches of the year. They start with a 70s style control segment about hitting armdrags and reversing armdrags before moving on to trickier stuff with Yano working over Shotas leg. Yanos bridging indian deathlock was obviously the highlight, and Shota sold really well. Shota is honestly a pretty underrated indy talent himself, he had some neat transitions and never overreached. Really well done technical match, only criticism is that I wanted more but I always want more wrestling like this.

Keita Yano Documentation

REAL BLOOD The Maximum 12/26/2022

 Keisuke Goto vs. Tomoki Hatano

Boxing Gloves: Raito Shimizu vs. Rocky Kawamura

Hiroshi Yamato vs. Ryo Inoue

Daisuke Kanehira vs. Shingo

Naoya Nomura & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Super Crafter U & Rikiya Fudo

Slightly disappointing card mostly because it was rather pro style and they wrestled in a ring. Opener was just a route rookie squash with Hatano getting some bits of not very impressive or spectacular token offense, and Goto hitting some fun offense but not really brutalizing Hatano enough to make it special. Shimizu vs. Kawamura didn't get much going in the first two rounds mostly because they tried to do some ill-fated grappling. It's a boxing gloves match stupid, just hit each other in the face instead of trying to tumble on the mat! The 3rd round was pretty fun though.

The best and most solid match by far was Yamato vs. Inoue. Yamato is a real workhorse and pretty much carried this match against a bland kicker with his cool submission work and suplexes. The last two matches were alright but could have been better. Shingo did some cool submissions and counters which made his match interesting while Kanehira was mailing it in. The main event was a pro style match and felt like wasted potential considering how awesome the last REAL BLOOD main event was. Fudo was cool but everyone else was pretty much going to the motions. I am gonna blame this one on a Christmas hangover. We need a real CAPTURE show again, isn't Nomura their champion or something? Please dial Kitahara.

The Library

2022 MOTY List Update #5

 

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

This was really long and thus a bit slow-paced and tentative here and there. That aside this was largely excellent. Yano did a ton of great matwork and I loved all of Satos vicious strikes, especially the constant kicks to the mid section. Sato zoning in on Yanos arm and busting out cool armbar variations was good although they may have gone a bit overboard. The finishing run had a bunch of cool Yano moments, such as for example working a takedown attempt for a ropebreak before turning it into a gritty leglock battle. I didn’t think it was the MOTY like some people – it was just a bit too long and slow for that – but it was really good stuff and worth watching all the way through.

Naoya Nomura & Hayato Mashita vs. Super Tiger II & Shingo Suzuki, DIANA 10/16/2022

This was four sleazy shooters doing a random undercard match on a joshi show. It easily could have been mailed in, but instead they busted their ass and had a match that was actually unpredictable, had no downtime, a few neat moments and was stiff and exciting. Big credit goes to Nomura who was just awesome with his out of nowhere spears and shoulder tackles. I also really enjoyed Shingo Suzuki, who apparently is a seasoned MMA fighter turned pro wrestler. He got some nice shooty exchanges out of people, and he had a really insane dive that I won't spoil. I also continue to be impressed by how STII is not completely broken down and even looking quite spirited, hitting cool spin kicks. I thought Mashita stunk a bit in the first minute of this but he wasn't bad at the end. For 9 minutes this was way way too fun.

GENKAI & Hitamaru Sasaki vs. HUB & Tigers Mask, Kyushu Pro, 11/12/2022

Once in a while I am reminded that Kyushu Pro puts on some really good matches. This was a match that showcased 4 cool unique wrestlers to the best of their abilities busting their asses, impressive considering everyone here is in their 40s. GENKAI did some really great shoulder selling, best "wounded beast" selling performance I've seen in a while, I also really liked how they didn't go for the obvious route by working his shoulder a bunch, instead people would try to tag him in the shoulder and he would overpower them, all while doing this great pained selling. HUB was really cool here, like a slithery version of Tajiri, he had a really nice opening segment against Genkai, and his weird whip thing actually looked super painful, he also had an insane right hook to Genkai when the whip didn't do it at one point and his jumping knees look great. Tigers Mask also looked good, he hit some painful looking kicks to Genkais shoulder and generally was really spry, I am annoyed his recent matches in Osaka Pro only seem to air in clips. Sasaki was the least guy in the match but he was still pretty solid, working a shootstyle mat segment against Tigers Mask. I will say his kicks and jumping knees look a bit weak compared to what Tigers Mask and HUB were doing. They worked this at a really good pace, doing plenty of tricked out stuff without going overboard, always sticking to their strengths, I actually wanted them to slow down  a bit because I was so into the story of their match. Regardless it was a really good long form match and ended at the right moment with a bunch of high notes.

2022 MOTY List

Assorted Student Matches

Atsumi Manami & KISHIDA vs. Suikappu Kenchiro & Sasaki Complete Jr, CWP 12/10/2017

This is from CWP which means Come On Wrestling Party. I assume this is like a student wrestling fed so some things were a bit clunky, but you also get lots of fun unique things. The ruleset for this was interesting as the first 4 minutes was all grappling rule, then I believe 4 minutes of KO only and finally a regular pro wrestling match. The grappling and striking was really fun in an UWFish way, the pin combos and narrow nearfalls were really cool. As soon as striking became legal all 4 guys began waffling the hell out of each other with thudding kicks and knees, really way more heated and mean spirited than you expect a match between amateurs to get. Credible shoot-style spinebuster was easily the highlight.The finish was also damn great with the pin combos vs. Shoot submissions approach. Really really nice stuff, better and more inspired than what most pro leagues put on these days.

Kusuri Matsumura vs. Hinjaku Ningen Casshern, AZW 7/10/2022

 

Not exactly sure how to translate these names (Poor Human Casshern?). Another surprisingly great match from two “amateurs”, why can’t Japanese pro leagues put on matches this spirited in 2022?! This was like the best grand structure Japan singles I’ve seen in 2022 so far, iron out some of the exeuction problems Casshern has and you’d have one of the more outstanding singles of the decade. Starts solid enough with some nice smooth chain wrestling, but after a couple minutes this turns into smash mouth wrestling. Matsumura is a really great bruiser lighting up his skinny opponent with blistering chops. Matsumuras jumping boots were absolutely awesome and there are a ton of well respected pro wrestlers who don’t have any offense that good. Cassherns execution was a bit soft, the guy is built like a noodle, but I really appreciated his gameplan of attacking Matsumuras arm and going for jumping knees. It builds to this really fantastic tricked out finishing run that has maybe the best build to an octopus hold I’ve ever seen in a match, with a bunch of really choice counterwork around the move. Matsumura narrowly evading defeat and just blasting his opponent with gritty suplexes felt like something out of an epic NOAH match starring maybe Honda. Excellet stuff that puts many pro leagues to shame.

Added to the 2022 MOTY List.

Yasushi Sato vs. Dekai Ichimotsu, ? 12/15/2013

I don‘t know if Yasushi Sato was ever a student wrestler, and at this point in 2013 he‘s of course had several hundred pro matches already, but his opponent I am pretty sure is another hobbyist. Ichimotsu has a black t shirt training pants and wrestling shoes get up which is like the least intrigueing look you can possibly bring into a match, but he was really good and this was pretty much indistinguishable from a pro match. Of course Yasushi Sato is a really fucking great wrestler so he can have a damn great match with pretty much anyone, but Ichimotsu never looked lost and he brought quite a bit to the table. Ichimotsu had some impressive counters from underneath and he was vicious going for Satos arm, he also busted out a Nakaya Nielsen tier double stomp. He also had a nice variety of ways to attack the arm and his laser focus added a nice structure to the match. Like any Sato match the match had a bunch of really sweet matwork, awesome cradle and suplex spots, nifty counters and good psychology. Excellent match overall that anyone who‘s into technical unqiue matches should check out.

REAL BLOOD Produce 10/3/2022

Hiroshi Yamato vs. Touki Hatano

 Hiroshi Yamato continues to get all the bookings. Hatano was on the last CAPTURE show and I've learned he's a green-ish guy from HEAT-UP. He's really not very interesting and instead of doing shootstyle they just have a rather standard indy match that has the benefit of being a bit faster paced than usual. Not much stood out but there was a nice German suplex spot at one point. Inoffensive and forgettable.

Takahiro Tababa vs. Daisuke Kanehira

This was more like it. Tababa comes in and just brutalizes Kanehira with his violent kicks. Kanehira isn't super interesting but he can take and dish it out. Nice and short at 5 minutes and they build in some cool struggle and moments. loved Tababas big hip throw. Good match!

Super Tiger II vs. Ryo Inoue

Y'know, I would think STII was pretty busted in 2022, but he did a pretty solid job carrying generic AJPW rookie Ryo Inoue to a decent match. He kept things moving, had some nice big kicks and a cool submission finish. That's a lot more than I expected going into this. Worth checking out.

Mitsuki Watase vs. Keisuke Goto

I have goodwill for both of these guys, but going about 15 minutes is too much for them at this stage. There was a will, both guys were stiff and Goto kind of did a job working over Watases mid section, but the match felt like it was done in slow motion and there was so little interesting going on. Even at 2x speed it still felt slow. I can see Goto becoming a decent Hiro Saito for the modern generation but he needs to stick to shorter matches for now.

Naoya Nomura & Super Crafter U vs. Yuma Aoyagi & Atsuki Aoyagi

The Nomura/Yuma sections were just awesome here. Both guys came in with MMA gloves and just threw down and had some fantastic heated sections were they tried to jump and beat the shit out of each other. Fantastic stuff, reminded me of the best of CAPTURE or early 2000s NJPW. The match settled down a bit after their initial exchange, Atsuki Aoyagi is a pretty boy flier and really sticks out like a sore thumb with his predictable shit in a match that started as a violent fight between two badasses. Crafter working the mat felt like Negro Navarro or Fujiwara carrying a scrub which is a very good thing. Still, the more pro-style sections had enough going for the kill and sudden shoot punches that the match stayed worthwhile. I wanted more of Nomura running wild and being crazy but they went the cheap route and had Crafter eat the fall. I really really want to see more Nomura/Aoyagi after this, which was the point of the match I guess. Yuma looked pretty good too as a big bully who will punch you in the back of the head. I assume his regular glove-less work is much less interesting. Still, he was on here, and you really need to see this match for him and Nomura killing each other.

The Library

The Quest for Seichi Ikemoto matches

 Seichi Ikemoto feels like a guy who is nowhere near talked about enough as far as 2022 pro wrestlers go. Really good slick shootstylist with cool Honda-esque submissions who is not afraid to eat and dish out punishment. He's also not afraid to throw down in odd spaces, as we are about to see.

Seichi Ikemoto vs. Atsushi Suzuki, 5/28/2022

We have no achieved an almost perfect synthesis of shootstyle, garbage, and weird office space wrestling. This takes place in a room that I assume would normally have business powerpoint presentation but they lay out some mats and they do shootstyle. For some reason there is a ton of trash strewn about the mat. And they do shootstyle. Ikemoto looks great as usual outclassing Suzuki early on, love the crazy rolling omoplata. Then Suzuki sleazes it up by nailing Ikemoto with a water bottle. Ikemoto takes some nasty bumps including a shoddy piledriver on the mat, and a god damn suplex to the bare floor. Suzuki is a bit clunky but Ikemoto is so stiff and exciting it doesn‘t matter. Nice finish. It all adds up to a memorable fun match.

Seichi Ikemoto vs. Tetsuya Izuchi, GLEAT 8/20/2022

Total Ikemoto show. Izuchi barely brings anything but Ikemoto brings so much neat stuff that the match is still worth watching. Cool mat transitions, cool holds, cool reversals, Ikemotos always doing something interesting. The one cool thing Izuchi did was bust out a nifty Gogoplata. He really needed that. Even his winning KO was lame. You‘ve really got nothing better than a weak slap, Izuchi?

Seichi Ikemoto vs. Soma Watanabe, GLEAT 3/13/2022

This was really good. The match had serious fight and scrappiness, with lots of punishing striking and uncooperative matwork. With a hot U-Style crowd this would have been quite great. Watanabe is about on the level of, say, UWFi era Kenichi Yamamoto. Nothing special but he had fire and could look competitive going at it with Ikemoto, and he wasn‘t afraid to get palm striked in his mush. He also dealt Ikemoto a really nasty face kick while Ikemoto was on his knees, and that was enough to get me behind Watanabe. Ikemoto did a really nice layered performance balancing his flashy moves with how he was punishing Watanabe. Check out how he sold a random Watanabe armbar, really putting over how even random hold can be a possible injury. Finish was great as Watanabe was outclassed but made a big rally trying to put Ikemoto away and I ate it up. Most importantly, the match didn‘t feel like by the numbers shootstyle which is impressive in 2022.

Seichi Ikemoto vs. Yu Iizuka, GLEAT 9/6/2022

This had the kind of flashy moves and matwork you hope for from an ex-U-Style guy and a Volk Han obsessed kid like Iizuka going at it. The match was a good mix of flashy matwork and Ikemoto punishing a rookie. Though I wonder why Iizuka is still this low on the pecking order. He dealt a pretty big blow to Ikemoto spiking him with a Dragon Suplex and then hitting a big jumping kick, but then Ikemoto just won. It felt like they had to rush the ending. It was still an enjoyable match, though.

2022 MOTY Project #4

 

Konaka Pale One vs. ONRYO, 666 1/10/2022

It‘s the spooky ghost vs. The spooky yoga master. No way on earth I wasn‘t gonna love this match. Onryo looked rough as hell, seemingly gassing and flubbing things, but thanks to Konaka the match still ended up being good. Indy guys like him deserve a ton of credit for mixing their more esoteric inventive offense with super solid old school wrestling. He can do both elaborate fancy stuff like the absolutely insane Asai DDT into the sukhasana pose as well as hit a really great basic knee drop, set himself up for a posting in a fun way and work a snug sleeper. Not to mention his throat chops. All in all Konakas stuff feels like the best possible cross of modern day juniors wrestling and an old US territory TV match. Konaka also did a good job selling Onryos filler legwork and making things like the figure 4 look like a struggle. Things pick up in a big way for the finishing stretch thanks to Onryo uncorking his big bombs, with Konaka getting absolutely spiked on a Tiger Driver. The ending mix of impact moves, Konakas cleverness (using a surprise corner choke to set up a springboard move was really great) plus Onryos propensity to end matches with pin combos and/or blasting his opponenent with radiation dust was super cool. And Konaka countering the Onryo clutch has to be the spot of the year. This was a bit sluggish here and there due to Onryo but if Konaka has a few more performances like this he might make a run for sleeper wrestler of the year.

Yujiro Yamamoto vs. 801 Kenichi & Yu Shimizu, Sportiva 3/9/2022

I am counting this as a handicap gauntlet match, because Yamamoto faces both opponents in matches with a 10 minute time limit right after another, and he has a pretty great performance here going 20 minutes against these scrubs. Kenichi had a lot of grappling with Kenichi not being very useful but Yamamoto being good enough to carry things. Surprisingly Kenichi had some nice suplexes and Yamamoto built some good stuff around that. Really dug Yamamotos shoulder dislocating armbars from underneath. Kenichis vader hammers were really ugly but he got tagged hard by Yamamotos kicks and open hands. Shimizu match was just a rush. I thought Shimizu was gonna suck from his flabby look and shitty opening dropkick, but he had some solid submission work, and he was game to get hit really hard. Yamamoto just bludgeons him with nasty stabbing elbows and kicks. There was this great moment where Shimizu went for an abdominal stretch and Yamamoto battered his way out of it. Great Yamamoto performance.

 

GENTARO vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa, FREEDOMS 7/9/2022

Why they had to JIP this one? What we saw was damn good. Basically Takaiwa braining Gentaro with disgusting elbows and lariats and Gentaro trying to contain him with some excellent arm attack work. Gentaro looked really good like the hair to a Nishimura type but doing his own thing. Loved all the submission attempts and his beautiful suplexes. Takaiwas selling wasn't super expressive but he sold that he was pushed to the limit and his arm was bothering him which is more than you can expect form Takaiwa. The ending turned into a Takaiwa bombfest but the actual finish was memorable with Takaiwas arm going limp on a lariat and Gentaro getting punched in the face in really nasty fashion. Last counter was a thing of beauty.

 

2022 MOTY List