Koki Kitahara Documentation Project #16

 

Koki Kitahara vs. BADBOY Hido, Fuyuki Army 2/19/1998 - FUN

Kitahara, in his rainbow star gi, spits at Hido as their names are announced. Hido goes for an armlock and Kitahara headbutts him right in the face. Kitahara kicks Hido in the face some more, then mockingly does the TNR dance. Kitahara then powerbombs Hido on the floor and stomps on his face again. Then Hido gets hit with the ring bell. A few more kicks to the face later and Hido is finally able to catch something and hit a dragon screw. I assume Hido gets some offence, but STV clips it out and we get more Kitahara kicking Hido in the face. Kitahara lands a spin kick that looked like it nearly shattered Hidos face. Hido kicks out of the powerbomb, but Kitahara makes him tap right away with a nasty nasty leg stretch. You‘d assume that this would set up Kitahara as a WAR invader soon to take on Fuyuki or some other bigger name, but seemingly nothing came of it. Guess it just wasn‘t Hidos night.

Koki Kitahara vs. Shiro Koshinaka, WAR 1/16/1994 - EPIC

This was such a grimy, violent fight. It was also a surprisingly smart match. They go 18 minutes, so obviously there are some holds, but they really come across as being made of pure contempt for each other when going through the motions. So you have Koshinaka really grinding his elbow in Kitaharas face, Kitahara twisting the fuck out of Koshinakas leg while in a basic leglock, and of course, both guys blindsiding each other left and right with some crazy shots. Kicks to the face, sudden headbutt to the jaw, lariat to the throat, there was no safety whatsoever. Koshinaka is impeccable in this kind of brawl. I really liked his flying ass attack which just landed on Kitaharas neck with abadon. We get Kitahara circling Koshinaka and kicking him in the face repeatedly like a shark until blood starts streaming from Koshinakas eye. Ending run had several smart spots and I thought they did a masterful job moving from Kitahara being kind of an underdog getting pushed around by Koshinaka, to Kitahara decimating Koshinaka to the point Koshinaka seemd out of it and hanging on by a thread. This didn‘t have the kind of huge visually impressive bombs you expect from a heavyweight WAR vs. New Japan clash, it was more like a grimey back alley fight as opposed to the big stadium Tenryu boxing matches, and it was really great in its own way.

Koki Kitahara Documentation Master List

Assorted Japanese Indy Wrestling

 

Yuki Ishikawa vs. Chocoball Mukai, Fuyuki Army 12/5/2003

Mukai usually was this scuzzy character, but here he‘s an asskicker wearing MMA gloves and kickpads beating the hell out of Ishikawa. Everyone gets to work stiff when facing Ishikawa I guess. And this is really one hell of a match. Mukai gives his all beating the shit out of Ishikawa, hitting some gnarly punches, joint-popping arm holds and even bloodying Ishikawas mouth. Ishikawa is who you think he is, busting out some neat counters and letting Mukai look way way better than he has any right to. Add Chocoball Mukai to the list of guys to have their career match against Yuki. 

Rikiya Fudo & Raito Shimitsu vs. Tatsuhiko Nakagawa & Akira Jo, ?? 1/11/2020

Glad this kind of modern scum indy match is now seeping onto YouTube so I can watch and cherish it. This is labelled DARK KARATE vs. WRESTLING HEAVYWEIGHTS and that's really all the story you need. Akira Jo is this Ex-IGF guy who kind of turned into an Oriharaite, and Nakagawa looked pretty badass with his gloves and overall just punching and kicking people. Shimitsu is the perennial good little worker of these trash indies with his amateur style and energy, and Fudo is that old CAPTUREhead who comes in to chop hard and drop really violent elbow drops and splashes on people. I think current day Ishii vs. Fudo would be pretty amazing. Great moment where Fudo busts Nakagawa in the face with a chair, Nakagawa comes back bleeding and pulls a belt out to choke Fudo. Then you get Shimitsu unloading his cool suplexes for the finish, Nakagawa spin kicking him in the face etc. Good shit.

Assorted Japan Indy Wrestling

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

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

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