A few matches under 10 minutes

 Kengo Mashimo vs. Isami Kodaka, K-Dojo 9/30/2002

Hey... did you know skinny deathmatch wrestler Isami Kodaka was once a skinny shootfighter dressed like a SHOOTO guy throwing wild punches and trying to break arms with flash armbars? You'll be surprised! This was just a hair under 5 minutes and it was like a more primitive version of Ikeda/Ono, so it was still pretty great! Both guys look awesome here. Mashimo doesn't have the hair dye and ponytail yet but he looks like quite the Hashimoto-esque figure here being a karateka dressed in black and taking on a shooter. Kodaka throws wild punches and spin kicks just great. The crazy spill over the rope was awesome  and the way Mashimo just decimated Kodaka with some of the most brutal head kicks and knees ever was harrowing. Quite the sub-5 minute war.

No Rules Match: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Kensuke Sasaki, NJPW 4/9/2001

It’s Shinya Hashimoto vs Kensuke Sasaki in 2001 New Japan in a NO RULES match. So it’s pretty much exactly what you want: plenty violent, short, no filler, just raw straight forward brutality. I had no idea this match even happened until now and it has no ratings in Cagematch, so that tells you this era of New Japan is still kinda underrated. Hashimoto goes into this with MMA gloves and there are some CAPTURE-esque exchanges to start. Sasaki is best as a primitive crowbar and that’s what he does here, Hashimoto would make him eat some hands early on so Sasaki just nuked him with a huge suplex. No Rules means there’s no rope breaks so Sasaki came across like a savage trying to rip out Hashimotos arm when he went for the armbar. Hashimoto came back with one of the nastiest punch flurries I’ve ever seen. After almost knocking Sasaki out, Hashimoto took the gloves off and they agree to a pro wrestling lock up before throwing kesagiri chops which was pretty awesome. Sasaki snatching Hash for the northern lights bomb out of nowhere was also pretty amazing. The car crash violent bomb throwing last few minutes were fairly great. Hashimoto is a king at building long intense matches but this kind of violent outburst also suits him pretty well.

Akira Nogami vs Yuji Nagata, NJPW/AAA 11/16/1994

Great 7 minute match. Young Nagata was working like an aggressive BattlARTS guy here, throwing wild strikes constantly and fighting back against Nogami with shootstyle technique. Nogami, of course, would end up grabbing one of those kicks, twist him over with a Dragon Screw and then stomp the hell out of that leg. Wrestling can be so simple but effective sometimes. Nagatas hulk up was also surprisingly great actually. The finishing stretch while brief was all well timed cool moments, such as Nogami resisting hard against Nagatas belly to belly suplex and hitting a really precise enzuigiri or Nagata unleashing some explosive kicks. Give me two guys going all out for 7 minutes and really comitting even to basic stuff like this any day.

Volk Han vs. Masayuki Naruse, RINGS 10/23/1993

This match has been called a contender for the greatest wrestling match under 10 minutes. It’s certainly an interesting pick. Han is bigger than Naruse so he really ragdolls him. I mean we all know Han is a monster but he was really yanking him around with his signature insanely fast wristlocks and throws, and straight up slamming him here and there. Hans wristlocks certainly have more aura than any other wrestlers wristlocks. This is Han as usual – dominating on the ground and you get some of the wildest submissions and escapes you’ll see anywhere. This man was truly a genius at coming up with unique submissions without getting too cute. Naruse is pretty much overwhelmed, but he gives a gutsy performance. He already loves the spinning back open hand strike and just tries to barrage Han early, but Han would catch him constantly. He does come up with some counters here and there, and Volk lets him have a moment knocking him down with a liver shot. There’s a great nearfall from a cross heel hook with Naruse desperately trying to escape and coming up limping after barely making the rope. He gets one last hope moment throwing some more body shots but Han spins him around for an easy tag. This was a Volk Han special, and the fact that it was pretty much a midcard bout against a much lower ranked opponent speaks volumes to how good Han was that even such a throwaway match would end up feeling special.

Yoshiko Tamura vs. Aja Kong

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thSUqf6hgJo

Classic Aja trashing, if you like the Chaparita Asari match you will also like this. Tamura throws the kitchen sink at her to try and stop the monster. Tamura was putting major force even into her slightly goofy flying cross chops. The backfist that Aja nailed her with looked harder than many Kos in MMA fights. Check it out for a hard 2 minute fight.

Early K-Dojo

 

TAKA Michinoku vs Kengo Mashimo, K-Dojo 8/30/2003

TAKA could have easily done a bog standard rookie beatdown and hit his spots, but instead we get a really cool, uncooperative match where Mashimo largely dominates on the ground and through superior striking with TAKA only getting a few hope spots and desperately going for his jumping kicks and the facelock. Mashimo had yet to truly find himself but he was believable as a Mini Hashimoto already. Really good transition here where Mashimo gets his leg stuck in the ropes and TAKA immediately goes for desperate kicks of his own. Both guys popping up with crazy jumping kicks was really good and just what this kind of ground based fight needed to be more exciting. TAKA also didn’t spare his opponent when he had to throw hands. Really unique match that felt likea gruelling battle.

Teppei Ishizaka vs Sambo Oishi, K-Dojo 8/31/2003

Really fucking good rookie match. The intensity of these guys was just jumping off the screen even when they were doing basic stuff like a lock up. Young Oishi was really damn good constantly going for the leg, and having a bunch of neat ways to attack the leg and take Ishizaka down. Teppei looked great, really sold the fuck out of that legwork and his desperation kimuras were awesome. Some really choice counters and transitions, and both guys keep it simple enough so something like a Samoan Drop looks like a bomb dropping. The submission work had the intensity of a high end 90s Otani match. Great shit, I really need to check out more Ishizaka, and Oishi too.

Teppei Ishizaka vs Shiori Asahi, K-Dojo 8/30/2003

JIP match, but it’s really good in the same way as Ishizaka/Oishi. It’s Asahi’s banana split/abdominal stretch vs Ishizakas kimuras. Ishizaka will also do odd stuff like these graceful floating armbars and standing flip sentons, like a 70s Mighty Inoue/Isamu Teranishi tribute and it’s really. Both guys had a bunch of fun ways to get in and out of their signature submissions, and there were some gnarly strike exchanges including a big FUTEN worthy headbutt exchange. Really good shit from two rookies, where did this kind of intensity go?

2002 MOTY Project Update #17

 36. Kensuke Sasaki vs. Yoshihiro Takayama, NJPW 8/3/2002

Insanely violent fight in front of a hot crowd. The psychology here was caveman level simple. Sasaki is able to throw off his opponent at first but Takayama re-establishes himself as the monster. Eventually it just devolves to both guys stubbornly trying to crack each other. The level of stiffness provides more than enough entertainment though, and Sasakis wild flailing plus things like Takayamas full weighted knee caving into Kensukes chest were far more entertaining than the usual elbow fest. No idea how those lariats didn‘t break Takayamas jaw. Finish was simple but super well done and Takayama punching Sasaki in the back of the neck was fairly crazy. This was easily Sasakis most exciting match of the year I‘ve seen so far.

35. Yuka Shiina vs. Yoshiko Tamura, NEO 10/22/2002

 Interesting match. Shiina was on fire, throwing out one crazy submission reversal after another. By far the best I've seen her look. She was hellbent on forcing a tapout from Tamura. Yoshiko Tamura is someone who frustrates me as she clearly is a competent pro wrestler, but she has this tendency to throw it worthless ace crushers and DDTs that serve no purpose. This match was short and mat based, so it ends up one of the better Tamura bouts of the era. The match was almost all submissions, but they walloped each other with some kicks between the holds. Tamuras cross legbar reversal towards the end was pretty great. I need to see more of this Shiina. 

34. Kengo Mashimo vs. Sambo Oishi, K-Dojo 4/20/2002

I think this was Mashimos second match ever. It was one hell of a match for a second ever match. There were a couple damn great exchanges here. Tenacious grappler Oishi ruled, too. Mashimo wasn‘t fully embracing his later dickhead character, but when it was time to throw kicks he beat the shit out of Oishi. Some outstanding submission work. There were some pro style touches but they were executed in a really explosive way and integrated perfectly. Really made me want to get both guys back catalogue. Best 6 minute match of the year?

25. Koki Kitahara & Johta vs. Nobuyuki Kurashima & Masayuki Mineno  (CAPTURE 12/8/2002)

Exactly what Capture promises, 4 guys just beating eachother silly in savage ways. The Mineno/Johta sections were really fun with both guys throwing fast hands and kicks, all ultra stiff of course. Then you had the heavyweights – both Kitahara and Kurashima looked like they were twice the size of either Johta or Mineno – bullying the little guys around. Kurashima is a MUGA boy and he mostly sticks to matwork here, altough he does punish opponents with some brutal throws and inventive submissions. At one point he did a Backlund lift from an armbar into almost a One Winged Angel. Kitahara was an absolute bastard once again, stomping on Minenos face and sucker punching him from behind. Match is really good shootstyle in parts but starts breaking down into chaos towards the end with the referee losing control over who is legal and who isn't, so you would get Kurashima tackling Kitahara while Mineno would try to kick him in the face. Still this is what Capture promise and each fall had a great finish.

2002 MOTY Master List