2 Cold Scorpio Documentation Project #6

 

2 Cold Scorpio vs. Rob Van Dam, ECW 3/20/1998 - GREAT

This was apparently provided by RVDs personal channel, so thanks to Mr. Van Dam for providing the hidden gems. Really athletic match with a lot of heat garnering from Van Dam and Alfonso. RVD has a rep for super choreographed sequences but they largely avoided that here. Opening grappling was really good, with both guys having really good mat movements, Scorpio rips out a really fast Fujiwara Armbar and RVD has a super impressive bridge walkover, wish that section lasted longer. The Zbyszko stalling from RVD mixed with the athletic basic exchanges was really effective. Both guys bust out some impressive counter sequences, with Scorpios kicks looking especially awesome. Finishing run had some great old school junior moves like a huge back suplex off the top and a beastly powerbomb from Scorpio. Scorpio really wrestles with a ton of faith in the basic moves, like he comits to a basic mat return as much as he does to a plancha or twisting splash, and both look awesome and believable. It’s a nice change of pace from todays trained monkey show approach to this kind of wrestling. Some of the floor brawling was a bit listless and the finish was a run in, but a really cool match outside of that.

2 Cold Scorpio vs Paul Orndorff, WCW 5/18/1993 - GREAT

Wonderful TV match which was basic but executed amazingly. I think early 90s WCW is some of the best TV wrestling the US ever had, everything is nice and snug, and everyone is putting in the work. Orndorff really can work a basic wristlock even to perfection, and Scorpio is so good. All of Scorpios stuff really pops, yes he has the fancy high spots, but he makes even somtehing as basic as a crossbody look amazing. I also loved him throwing punches. Orndorff is really good, nothing fancy, but he knows how to be dominant so the crowd will be extra hot for all of Scorpios offense, and he looked mean as hell when he was attacking Scorpios riffs. Really simple classy match that had the crowd the whole time, down to the “Whoop there it is” chant and everyone jumping up and pointing fingers when Orndorff pulled a foreign object. Great stuff.

2 Cold Scorpio & Richard Slinger vs Akitoshi Saito & Makoto Hashi, NOAH 7/10/2004 - GREAT

Fuck yeah Scorpio and Slinger getting to tear it up in the dome for 15 minutes. This was mid paced, but had a ton of good shit in it. Namely from Slinger, who is really working hard in this match, busting out lots of awesome kicks. His pump kick in the corner is probably the best that move has looked, and his spin kicks were really cool. Scorpio was awesome here, he makes everything he does look so good, down to his great heavyweight flying, and uncorking some great strikes. It is telling that in a match with some great strikers in it Scorpio has the best looking strikes. His jumping knee nearly caved Hashis face in, and later he hits a picture perfect jumping face kick. I would’ve liked to see him go head to head with Saito a bit more, instead of having Hashi kick out of a bunch of offense, but Scorp and Saito wailing on each other early on was pretty cool too. In the end it was Slingers night and he made the most of it.

 

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation

Tamon Honda Matches

 

GHC Tag Title Match: Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito vs. Tamon Honda & Masao Inoue, NOAH 1/24/2003

Really good match from Honda & Inoue. Akiyama and Saito were pretty much coasting for the first 20 minutes or so. The beginning was fun with Honda and Inoue immediately trying to choke Akiyama out and deal him some damage. We then get a segment where Honda gets his leg worked over which lead to some fantastic selling. Unfortunately Akiyamas selling of the opening beatdown on him was nowhere near as good. Inoue had his working boots on and gave a spirited underdog performance. Saito and Akiyama did nothing special when they were beating on him, but Inoues act kept things interesting. I loved how Akiyama tried to blow off Inoues hits only to get his eyes raked. When Inoues not raking peoples eyes, he has to hit them like a dozen times just to set up a move because he’s so weak, and that rules. The spot where Inoue was able to put Saito in the torture rack for a heated nearfall was really really nice. We also get some cool spots of Honda and Inoue helping each other out, and Honda killing people with Dead Ends. The focus was on Inoue at the end so we didn’t get any cool Honda counters, but his valiant effort was cool and Akiyama and Saito finally came alive to finish him off with some impressive moves. Good stuff which proves guys like Honda and Inoue could bring it even outside of their more heralded matches.

Tamon Honda & Jun Izumida vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Takuma Sano, NOAH 6/8/2003

4 hard dudes in a match. Everyone was cool here, you had Sano obliterating dudes with solebutts and double stomps, plus Ikeda and Honda having some awesome exchanges. Their brief mat exchange where Honda caught Ikeda in some impossible to escape hold was really damn good and damn do I want more of that stuff. Izumida also had his working boots on, being a hard headed bastard dropping people with chokeslams and STOs. I really liked the finish where Izumida was stuck in an achilles hold trying to survive until the time limit only for Sano to turn him around and tap him with a nasty heel hook.

Tamon Honda vs. Naomichi Marufuji, NOAH 6/11/2004

Marufuji was doing a semi comedic act and scuzzy heel tactics here. It was kind of mid but also made me think that he would have made an effective Anjoh-like heel if he had embraced the bailing and cheap tactics more. There was also a brief distraction where Danshoku Dino came out and got chopped by Kobashi. Kobashi gave him about the most hateful glare I’ve ever seen Kobashi give anyone. All that aside, every single thing Honda did here was awesome. It’s not hard to do a bunch of awesome things in a short match but Honda is special. Just the way he cradled Marufujis boot when Maru tried to kick him was outstanding and something only someone with the head of Honda could do. Another highlight was Honda ragdolling Marufuji when he tried going for the legs. Beautiful beautiful finish. That’s about all there is to say.

2002 MOTY Project #23

 

Black Buffalo vs. El Samurai, Osaka Pro 11/2/2002

Boy am I glad we got this in full. And this was damn great. Word was that El Samurai was over the hill in the 2000s, but he was pretty great here roughing up Buffalo with punches and stretching him. It also helps that the Osaka Pro crowd really hates him. Samurai is someone where you buy his basic submissions as really dangerous and the bit of tumbling on the mat to start was really cool. Samurai tearing up Buffalos leg was great, and we get Samurai bumping like crazy for Buffalos lariats, spiking himself hard on his necka nd shoulders, and he even taking some big bumps on the floor that you totally don‘t expect him to take. Buffalo is really effective as a local underdog who can dish out an asskicking, and his comebacks are awesome in completely unexpected ways. HUGE finish. This was absolutely banging.

Kenta Kobashi & Kentaro Shiga vs. Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito, NOAH 10/19/2002

A great match. They stretched out and had an epic. Shiga hit some fun Tornado DDT variations and then they beat the shit out of him. Those swinging moves into the guardrails were pretty inventive and nasty. He got his nose bloodied and then punched and kicked in the face a bunch. Kobashi and Akiyama were the workhorses in this, it’s amazing the kind of exchanges Kobashi could still have with his knees glued together. I also loved how he straight up went for the Burning Hammer to put Akiyama away, no time killing bullshit. Even though the Kings Road guys have a rep for doing SO MUCH, it was amazing to see the mileage he and Akiyama got out of basic moves like a DDT or vertical suplex. The ending run was good as hell and basically a prelude to what they would do with Honda a year later. Shiga is no Honda but he can lock in some nifty submissions and do a cool pin combo when you don’t expect it and the crowd is absolutely on fire for him. Good shit that felt refreshing as they towned down they big move overkill and focussed on excellently timed cutoffs and making the submissions look dangerous. I can see why some people don’t rank this super high compared to the classics of the genre, but I thought it was a really tremendous match.

Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Yoshihiro Takayama, NOAH 9/23/2002

This was NOAH meets PRIDE and it was awesome. Misawa going for takedowns, mount and leg kicks is awesome. But he ran into a monster in the form of Takayama here who kept catching him with his out of nowhere kicks and superior striking. But Misawa adjusted his game and figured him out. Tons of ridiculously smart spots. Misawa anticipating a Takayama kick to hit his leg is why Misawas such a genius. I also loved how Misawa connected a running elbow, but Takayama didn’t go down, allowing Takayama to catch a surprised Misawa with a kick to the brain. Takayama interrupting Misawas routine with a killer knee strike was also great. Takayama was just a beast and seemed to overwhelm him, but Misawa came back and outboxed the monster. Totally awesome stuff, these two could have gone braindead and just done a bunch of freak violence and hard hitting and kickouts but they gave us something much smarter and cooler. For strike based big matches in pro style it doesn’t get much better if you ask me.

2002 MOTY Master List

RIP Masashi Aoyagi

 

Masashi Aoyagi & Akitoshi Saito vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Daisuke Ikeda, NOAH 11/16/2000

Very WAR-feeling NOAH match, the kind that the company should have done more. Not many „wrestling“ sequences, just guys awkwardly kicking and punching each other, jumping on each other and refusing to get off. Marufuji looked pretty good here as he knows how to work this kind of match, instead of his junior spots he did double legs, capture suplexes and going for chairs. Aoyagi is nice here kicking ass and matching up with Ikeda. They don‘t square off as much as you‘d like because Saito is the focus, but when they do its good stuff with Ikeda using the gi against Aoyagi, hitting a hard lariat etc. Also really liked the bit where Saito challenged Ikeda to a macho exchange and Ikeda just blindsided him and went for the eyes, something that should have ended all macho exchanges right there.

Masashi Aoyagi vs. Atsushi Onita, FMW 8/28/1994

This was an exploding barbedwire, double hell landmine deathmatch. As a match it was pretty much a tribute to their matches in the 80s, except now occasionally guys would get pushed into an explosion by a kick or takedown. I give Onita a ton of credit here as he sold a ton for Aoyagi. Aoyagi just took him apart with kicks, kicking at his bandaged shoulder, Onita took most of the explosion bomps getting shoved into the mines by Aoyagis kicks. Even Mr. Pogo did a brief run-in to blow a fireball in Onitas face. It really ramped up the drama of the match and the crowd was huge into it. Aoyagi taking of his jacket for a strap drop moment only to end up getting blown up himself was one of those deathmatch moments. Ending was the standard Onita fare but it was good. It was nice for Aoyagi to have this match where he kicks the tar out of Onita on a big, exploding stage.

Karateka vs. Pro Wrestler matches!

 

Iori Sugawara vs. Ninja Lee, Kazushi-Gumi 1/19/2018

Great little match, exactly what we are looking for on this blog. Ninja Lee is  a masked guy doing some mortal kombat stuff and Sugawara is this veteran karateka who can work a really solid pro wrestling match, and they are fighting each other in a chain ring. Lee can really throw out of nowhere axe kicks and fast hands, and Sugawara is like a Finlay with karate kicks here, working snug holds, using the chain ropes, trying to rip the mask, but also working the guy over with nasty kicks. I love a match where two sleazy guys give their all and they gave their all, stiff work, unpulled kicks, hard suplexes and STO on the not very giving ring mat, this ruled.

Hideaki Sumi vs. A-Z, FU*CK 8/22/2021

I don‘t know why we have to watch FU*CK now to get good shootstyle but here we are. Sumi is older here and has silver dyed hair like an anime character and you can see he‘s developed into a really cool worker. A-Z is some kick padded skinny guy who I assume is young (who knows, he might be 40) and Sumi really punishes him, really thudding kicks and bare knuckle punches. Sumi knows how to beat on a guy and then hit a huge kick for accentuation. His Tenryu-style enzuigir where he barely leaves the ground is great and his spinning wheel kick landed flush in A-Zs face. There is some decent groundwork (Sumi can put on holds) and it‘s just a way better match than it had any right to be in a promotion as sleazy as FU*CK worked for a Twitcast that maybe 20 people bought. A-Z looked alright but Sumi looked like a Katsumi Usuda type worker who can have a good little match against anyone.

Akitoshi Saito vs. Juyong Kim, Seishin Kaikan 7/13/1991

At this point, wrestler vs. Karateka is pretty much the only kind of pro wrestling I‘ll accept. This was violent, out of control, just perfect, Saito is an Aoyagi protege and he did his master proud here. Kim is a thickly built Korean pro wrestler (I assume), and while he looks strong he looks like was not ready for the punishment Saito would give him here. This is young nimble Saito and he just tries to crush this guy, it looks like one of his spin kicks bloodied Kims nose or lip. Kim hits some nice suplex including a really gritty butterfly suplex where he just muscles Saito over, the kind of suplexes where it looked like the other guy wasn‘t going along at all but still flew. At the second round Kim just grabs a chair and demolishes Saito, which is what you should do after you got uncessarily brutalized by a karateka in a foreign country, why did nobody ever run Steve Austin vs. A karateka? Saito comes back guns blazing though and the ending is awesome, as Saito takes off his jacket throws it in Kims face and then knees blinded Kim in the head until he stays down. Gotta love pro wrestling.

GWE Watching: Tamon Honda

 Tamon Honda vs. Daisuke Ikeda, NOAH 3/29/2001

Their KBS hall match is more famous and probably better, but this match was beastly in it's own right. There wasn't much matwork, but Ikeda was landing FUTEN level kicks to Hondas face and Honda hit all these beastly throws and counters. Both guys selling was just great, Ikeda would make a random leglock or Honda falling on top of him look deadly, and Honda sold a chokehold as if he was poisoned. Ikeda limping while getting up after a leglock and then rushing over to kick Hondas big head like a football was awe inspiring. I also loved Hondas reversal of the Russian Legsweep and Ikeda hitting the move later in the match was amazing due to the timing and buildup. The crowd for this was at the beginning so quiet you could hear a pin drop but the match won them over and they were popping big at the end so you know it ruled. Also, NAGAI KILLER and some brutal high kicks for the finish.

Tamon Honda & Masao Inoue vs. Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito, NOAH 9/2/2001

Honda is set to face Akiyama for the title, so the purpose of this match was to make him look like a beast. And well, that they do. Honda does some fun grappling with Akiyama, then catches him in a nasty guillotine. Akiyama seems to make a comeback but then Honda just snatches him and dumps him hard with the Dead End. Saito tags in and Honda chokes him out in 20 seconds. Badass show, which is made more badass by how useless Inoue was in the match. Afterwards Inoue raises Hondas hand like „that‘s my boy!“. Great shit, short, neat, told its story perfectly.

Yoshinari Ogawa & Tamon Honda vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takashi Sugiura, NOAH 8/24/2002

Really fun story driven tag. Rare instance of a match where not much special happens early on and it adds to it. Ogawa as this unimpressive champion who keeps ratting his way to victory was just great. All his interactions with Takayama were awe inspiring. Ogawa would rake Sugiuras eye and then taunt Takayama („Clean Fight!!“) only to back off, then try to rush Takayama with punches when he tagged in. Then, he would get isolated and tortured by Takayama and Sugiura. Takayama tagging in Sugiura and then sprinting across the ring to have a go at Ogawa was another really amusing moment. Also, all the olympic grappling exchanges involving Honda where great and the finish between him and Sugiura was awesome.

Tamon Honda & Takeshi Morishima vs. KENTA & Akihiko Ito, NOAH 8/23/2009

Really good undercard tag which was a reminder that NOAH was a pretty fun promotion once upon a time. All of Hondas exchanges were so cool here, he rarely works like a beast but he was a slovenly monster here, really establishing that it‘s hard to get him off his feet. His unorthodox grappling exchanges with young Ito were really cool and his brief sections with KENTA really hinted against a great singles match between them. He Dead Ends KENTA hard, and the bit where he snatches Ito and almost strangles him was grizzly. Morishima is really effective in his role of fat dude who tries to ring peoples bell and crushes them with his fatness. Ito is also a really spry fun guy with really good execution, too bad he retired but I guess he dodged a bullet by dropping out of this promotion. Also KENTA bodyslamming fat Morishima onto Honda was such a fun little spot, totally makes a match like this stand out.

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation Project #2

 2 Cold Scorpio & Vader vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Takashi Sugiura, NOAH 10/16/2001 - GREAT

Scorpio and Vader had a great dynamic as a team. Scorpio the more elegant wrestler, while Vader is just this hulking beast. As partners they act as foils for each other in a really unique way. This went a little under 7 minutes, but it was laid out nearly perfectly. Everything Vader does looks like he‘s just killing dudes, bashing guys heads in with his arms, body checks that look like they run you over. The crowd even buys a basic back suplex from him as a nearfall. Between Scorpio and Vader laying guys you get some fun character moments from both of them. Ikeda and Sugiura are mostly blown away but they get in some good hopespots. I liked the brief Ikeda/Scorpio section a lot. Ikeda was teeing off on Scorpio with stiff lariats until Scorpio was able to get in some beautiful (probably much less painfull but still hurty looking) kicks. Finish was fun too as Vader randomly seemed to hurt his leg. It may have been a shoot but probably not because Vader kept working matches the next couple days, but it gave the illusion that Sugiura might come back against the monster. The match ended early like a few NOAH matches did back in the day, to remind the crowd that things are important. Not the epic you might hope for when you see Ikeda and Vader and Scorpio in a match but it was healthy booking and the match was still really cool without burying Ikeda and young boy Sugiura.

2 Cold Scorpio & Vader vs. Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito, NOAH 10/19/2001 - GREAT

Another match with a really great layout. Basically Vader is this ridiculously overpowered, but slightly banged up monster. You buy that he can KO people with a random punch or clothesline, or that a random leglock from him might dislocate someones leg. At the same time he‘s vulnerable and you think a random leg kick from Saito might make him give out. Akiyama and Saito try to zone in on Scorpio, he‘s not really the weak link, he‘s just the only one there that they have a chance in hell against. Scorpio feeds really well into their stuff and also sets up Vaders monster spots extremely well while hitting some graceful offense of his own. But the whole match was basically about Vader being an unstoppable force, while Akiyama and Saito still get close to turning the tide. I imagine it‘s pretty difficult to work a match like this and make it compelling but they succeeded here. Great stuff, early NOAH was the best.

2 Cold Scorpio vs. The Goon, WWF 12/2/1996 - FUN

This was Scorpios WWF debut using the terrible Flash Funk gimmick. Nowadays I imagine a guy with spectacular highspots making his debut would just eat the other guy up busting out all his stuff, but here the Goon controls a bit while Scorpio gradually does his stuff. The Goon who looks like some bush league indy dude in his hockey gear has some fun brawling, a nice bump through the ropes and a really nice posting. And Scorpio was pretty much the most spectacular guy in the world in 1996, really busting out complicated dives and rollups on a different level. And because of the match layout he gets over as more than a highspot machine. Fun match despite the unfortunate gimmick.

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation Project 

GWE Watching #6: Tsuyoshi Kikuchi

 

Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa, NOAH 11/25/2001

Man, NOAH missed out not giving Kikuchi a big singles run. It would’ve made me care about NOAHs junior title much more than all that shit involving guys like Marufuji and Kanemaru. This was super raw, hard hitting pro wrestling. There was some no selling because Takaiwa is who he is, but they make up for it by trying to kill eachother. At one point Kikuchi was getting into his machoism asking Takaiwa to hit him harder and Takaiwa almost caved his face in with a sick dropkick. Kikuchi repaid him later with an insane headbutt. I enjoyed the leg work Kikuchi did, even if Takaiwa pretty much ignored it. Takaiwa kind of redeemed himself taking a really great corner bump and then almost dying on a spider german suplex. Finishing run had plenty of brutality, including Takaiwa swatting Kikuchi off the ropes and Kikuchi countering the endless Powerbomb in a really cool spot.

Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Jushin Liger, NOAH 5/21/2004

A match I‘ve never heard of until I decided to YouTube search Kikuchi today. I‘m surprised by that, because this was pretty excellent. I guess it didn‘t fit the kind of nearfall-ladden fast paced junior epic mold that was en vogue with fans at the time. But, this delivers the kind of scrappy, uncooperative exchanges you want from this. Kikuchi looks great here opening with an awesome sliding enzuigiri and big, microphone enhanced headbutts. There‘s some great dueling armwork, with both guys selling fantastically. I really liked Kikuchi playing hard ass shrugging off Ligers basic throws and Liger then gleefully tearing apart his bandaged shoulder. It‘s a great mixture of looking tough as hell and vulnerable which Kikuchi does extremely well. Loved the spot where Kikuchi went in turn to choke Liger with his bandage and Liger headbutting his bad shoulder. The match was full of gritty struggle like that, such as Kikuchi manhandling Liger by the mask, or trying to shrug off his palm strikes. Ref spots were fun and didn‘t hurt the match, and the match ended on two perfect nearfalls. Very refreshing stuff.

Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Akitoshi Saito, NOAH 7/27/2001

Kikuchi is ranked way lower than Saito, but he won‘t go down without a fight! This was two guys mauling each other and it was pretty great. Notice how the match never turned into a predictable „I hit you – you hit me“ slog. There were a few smart moments: Kikuchi rolling outside and the grabbing a streetfight leglock was really great. As was him going down from a single slap from Saito and having to go for the leg again. Really dug his leg stretch in the ropes. Saito doesn‘t really sell the legwork and wins pretty easily to show that he is much stronger, which prevents this from being great, but I really loved Kikuchis performance.

Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Akira Taue, AJPW 1/21/1992

Kikuchi vs. Taue, in 1992! What a matchup! And this is just wonderful. Taue gets huge heel reactions. He doesn‘t do much out of the ordinary, except try to rip Kikuchi in half with some mean submissions and just generally act like a jerk, but Kikuchi, man! He was at his best here, bumping big, selling, and being so ferocious when attacking Taue. At point Taue does a neck chop and Kikuchi does this pained collapsing sell. He really makes you believe in a neck chop like few other wrestlers. Last couple minutes had some fantastic and were just lovely. Kikuchi wanted that German Suplex like all hell, and YOU believe in it. Just a short little houseshow match, but an example of what makes Kikuchi so special.

2002 MOTY Project Update #13

 

6. Elimination Match: Mitsuharu Misawa & Naomichi Marufuji & Takuma Sano & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Akitoshi Saito & Jun Akiyama & Makoto Hashi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru, NOAH 1/20/2002

Really great elimination tag which was exemplaric of what made 2002 NOAH so good: unique characters, interesting match layouts, and everyone playing their role to perfection. Great start with Sterness trying to rush only for crafty Ogawa to attack Akiyamas injured shoulder. Marufuji is mostly pinballing around here, and doesn‘t do anything stupid. I loved Hashi here, as a low ranked guy who can hit really heavy thanks to being gifted with an indestructible skull, and how he would fly into the ring with random headbutts like a bomb dropping. The crowd reaction to him rushing Misawa with headbutts was awesome. Kanemaru was also surprisingly effective as a scuzzy heel junior. Everything that came after the match turned into a 4 on 1 was damn near perfect and just brilliant pro wrestling. Ogawa rules so hard and this teamwork with Misawa was on par with their peak Untouchables work. Akiyama trying to let his junior partners pin Misawa as a fuck you only for it to backfire was a nice touch. Great selling and they had the crowd going bonkers without any head drops or dangerous bumps at all.

52. Masao Inoue & Tamon Honda vs. Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikioh, NOAH 1/20/2002

Really great Masao Inoue performance. And also a nice reminder that heavyweight wrestling can be smart and not just shoulderblocks and strike exchanges. Double Takeshis try pulling a 2 on 1 on Honda to start only for Inoue to come in and save the day with eye rakes. Some entertaining guardrail shenanigans ensue. Inoue and Honda trying to choke out Morishima was really great, as was the random apron bulldog Honda busted out. Inoue hitting a neckbreaker after the chokehold just makes so much sense. I really liked how Morishima and Rikioh tried avoiding Hondas headbutts. Then, in a great spot, Rikioh grabbed Honda by the head and just flung him across the ring. Rikioh and Morishima punishing Inoue wasn‘t super interesting in terms of what they did, but was made entertaining by Inoues excellent selling. Inoue manages to look pathetic even when he‘s hitting offense as he just kind of awkwardly staggers across the ring and then flops into his opponent. Hondas hot tag was great as he just hit an out of nowhere crowbar lariat and immediately went for the Olympic Hell. Inoue trying to prevent Morishima from making safes was also really entertaining. Crafty Inoue during the finishing stretch trying to upset the big boys and building to his Torture Rack finisher was excellent and I like how Inoue can make smart decisions even when his plans don‘t work out. Morishima doing the axe bomber to piss off Takao Ohmori was a nice touch.

2002 MOTY MASTER LIST

Koki Kitahara Documentation #5

 Koki Kitahara & Shinichi Nakano vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Ishinriki, SWS 4/18/1992 - GREAT

SWS style tag with Fujiwara thrown in the mix. So you have tubby juniors exchanging brutal spin kicks and lariats at a fast pace and Fujiwara throwing in some lightning fast counters and hitting the mat. The 3 young guys are really good and Fujiwaras presence adds just what this kind of undercard match needs. Ishinriki is a former sumo who works like a junior and junior who used to be a sumo is much better than junior who used to be a gymnast. He hits some big dive and also nice palm rushes and lariats. Kitahara and Nakano look good hitting the mat with Fujiwara. Highlights include Fujiwara hitting a huge Bas Rutten style body punch for a near KO aswell as trading some brutal battering ram headbutts with Nakano. Fujiwara fits really well with these energetic dudes. Apparently this match got **** from Meltzer proving he had some taste at one point. It has a few big moves and nearfalls too. 

 Koki Kitahara vs. Shinichi Nakano, WAR 5/26/1996 - GREAT

 These two are like the ultimate pair of 90s outlaw sleazebags, so I'm pretty salty about this being clipped. Still, we get a quite great pissed off 6 minute match here. Nakano comes in with a bandaged shoulder and Kitahara is such a spectacular asshole just tearing him up. Really kicking the piss out of him with stomps and kicks that don't feel held back at all. Nakanos selling is great and when he comes back he comes back like a house of fire throwing the greatest punches you've ever seen, maybe because he was trying to punch Kitaharas jaw out legit (a Shinichi Nakano documentation project may be in order). Gritty, simplistic finishing sequence built around Kitahara catching Nakano in nastier and nastier submissions. This was the stuff.

Koki Kitahara vs. Akitoshi Saito, NJPW 2/5/1993 - GREAT

You look at this match up and you go „Well, these are two guys who are not afraid to kick somebody in the face“. And that's what happens in this match. It's also NJPW vs. WAR (or Seishinkaikan vs. WAR?), so it had the kinda heat those matches have. These guys were just crushing eachother, Saito was hitting some really devastating mid kicks aswell as knees to face, and Kitahara in return kicked him in his face and bald head a bunch. Kitahara pouncing on Saito with mount punches, leaving Saito to come out with a big red spot of blood on his bald head is something that only happens in 93. The referee blew the finish a little on this one but for two mean asskickers stepping up and kicking the shit out of eachother this delivered.

Koki Kitahara vs. Tatsuo Nakano, UWFi 5/27/1996 - GREAT

Pudgy mulleted japanese dudes beat the fuck out of each other for your entertainment. Tatsuo Nakano is just the master of this kind of brutal under 10 minutes brawl, and Kitahara is Kitahara. Starts out with a pretty intense scramble to the outside. Nakano of course gets a bloody nose, hard to see where, so he gets up and fucking breaks Kitaharas nose with a knee of his own. I was surprised he may have out-stiffed Kitahara in this one. Kitahara does throw one absolutely disgusting leg kick though which Nakano sold accordingly great. Short and intense but you already knew that.

KOKI KITAHARA DOCUMENTATION PROJECT MASTER LIST