U-DREAMS 1st Impact 11/12/1998

 I think this was also the only impact of this short lived organization.

Tomoharu Fuse vs. Mark Johnson

More Fuse content, baby. This was a cool opening match. No clue who Mark Johnson is (apparently  have been several MMA fighters named Mark Johnson), but he was good. He had good strikes, and carried the opening section with his cool throws and grappling. Fuse was along for the ride until he got full mount and started raining down punches on Johnon. He really turned it up after being outgrappled the whole time which is exactly what an outmatched fighter would do in that situation. One near KO later and what followed was a cool little run of false finishes including Fuse grapping a really cool spinning leglock. Wish we had gotten more shootstyle with MMA gloves because they utilized them well here.

Hidetada Irie vs. Tsunehito Naito

Naito is my boy, but future KINGDOM EHRGEIZ boss Irie completely squashes him here. Irie hit one or two cool kicks but his punches from mount where extremely lacking and there was no need for him to lazily dominate Naito for 3 minutes straight. It’s shootstyle, kick up the pace or at least brutally potatoe your opponent.

Tatsuo Nakano vs. Tom Burton

This was two tubby mulleted guys with sleazy mustaches basically beating on each other in a phone booth. I won’t pretend there was any genius wrestling going on here but I enjoyed watching these guys do some low distance fighting. Burton should’ve faced Ian Rotten at some point so we could know who the quintessential redneck shooter is.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Billy Scott

Getting to see Fujiwara do a faux PRIDE match is cool because it makes him do some fighting stance and striking work that you normally don’t see him to in typical UWF type matches. And Billy Scott is a really good grappler with fast movements and good tenacity that he matches up very well against Fujiwara. This went 5 minutes and really should have gone longer.

Enson Inoue vs. John Calvo

Two bulky guys tangling on the mat and punching each other for 2 minutes. Punches looked good although there is really no reason to run these kind of pro wrestling matches when real MMA is a thing.

Yoji Anjoh vs. Nicholas Starks

Anjos singlet with sparkly belt getup is just amazing. This ended up being another 2 minute squash. Anjoh just completely eats this poor guy up. Weird booking on this show, as you had a 16 minute opening match leading to a 2 minute main event. Maybe they were building to an epic Yoji Anjo vs. Tomoharu Fuse match on the next show before sponsors backed out or something.

 

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KINGDOM EHRGEIZ No Name Hero II 9/2/2000

Hidetada Irie vs. Tomoharu Fuse

Tomoharu Fuse has 2 matches listed on genickbruch, and somehow he has his own gym and was part of another hyper obscure promotion called FWF. This was straight shootstyle and acceptable. They worked stiff and I liked fuses cartwheel into a leglock. Fuse seemed kind of disinterested in the match, maybe because he was losing in 5 minutes. Camera angle on the last submission hold was bad. After the match, Irie (who is running this show) cuts a crying promo. First match on the card and you’re already this emotional, buddy? Maybe it was because few people came to the event.

Kendo Nagasaki vs. Tsunehito Naito

I love Kendo Nagasaki doing shootstyle matwork. Unfortunately, putting him against sleaze shooter Naito was a major size mismatch. This ended up being a 30 second squash as basically Nagasaki does a slow set up to a single leg crab to get the tap. It was a really cool set up but Tsunehito Naito deserved better.

Osamu Tachihikari vs. Billy Scott

OSAMU~! This show brings out all the cool kids. This was surprisingly good as Osamu works like an invincible badass that is hard to take down. He throws Scott around some and hits some cool open palm strikes before Scott is able to sink in a flash submission for the tap. Quite possibly the best Tachihikari singles I’ve seen.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Hiroyoshi Kotsubo

Fujiwara tools Kotsubo a bunch. So, pretty much what you expect, right? Another squash? But Kotsubo is able to get a leglock. Fujiwara breaks, but comes up limping. Kotsubo gets another leglock and hangs onto it for dear life. Fujiwara is able to get out, but has to quit due to his leg being finished. Kotsubo going over his boss feels like the most unlikely thing to happen, so the ending here ended up being a little surreal although it was well done.

Tatsuo Nakano vs. Shinichi Takada

This Takada is also known as Bungee Takada. He would also show up in illustrious promotions like CROWN and Guts World. That is more information than this match contains, because Nakano Kos Takada in under 10 seconds with a high kick.

Osamu Arai vs. Hidetada Irie

For unknown reasons Nagasaki doesn’t show up again and instead we get Arai, a blue haired tubby guy rocking the kickpads. I liked the stiff blows both guys threw but this was sleep inducingly boring otherwise.

Billy Scott vs. Hiroyoshi Kotsubo

Kotsubo just got the biggest win of his career taking Fujiwara out of the tournament. Will he use this momentum and establish himself as the new shootstyle hotness? No. No he will not. This was good old Kotsubo just hitting ankle pick takedowns that go nowhere. Scott is really good though does some cool grappling. Stay classy, Kotsubo.

Tanomusaku Toba vs. Takehiro Murahama - GREAT  

Toba actually doesn't wear gloves in this, but he does fine without them. This was basically two guys with great looking strikes tagging each other. Toba even does some grappling and throws some great looking knees but Murahama was on the heels of his Osaka Pro megapush and just overwhelms him with kicks and suplexes including including a pretty great spinkick that almost shattered Tobas face. Gnarly finish.

Billy Scott vs. Hidetada Irie

Irie has been kind of useless so far, but Scott is really good and gets a strong match out of him. Quality grappling exchanges and a sense that something was at stake here. Both guys were wearing gloves here which always makes things a little more frantic. The highlight was easily the desperation rolling kicks as well as Scott dropping Irie on his head and then almost ripping him in half with a nasty leg split. Irie came across as a giant mark booking himself to win the “UWF Heavyweight Title” and being overly dramatic in this match.

 

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