Cosmo Soldiers YouTube Channel

 Cosmo Soldier vs Kenta Kosugi, KAGEKI 5/6/2023

Very good match with Kosugi looking like a beast and Cosmo trying everything in the book to crack him down. Soldier hanging on to headlocks and sleeperholds and booting Kosugi in the face early on reminded me of a smartly worked early 90s AJPW match. Soldier was hitting insanely hard, both trying to crack Kosugis jaw with european uppercuts and laying really hard kicks into his body, and he had a few classy moments such as a really graceful sweep into a submission, as well as a great upside down scarecrow submission hold. Kosugi powering out of Soldiers holds was epic and he looked like a monster manhandling Soldier and ragdoll tossing him into the buckles. It builds to this really nasty finish with Soldier trying to chop through Kosugis neck with weird sideway hitting lariats and Kosugi just trying to chokeslam him through the ring. Really good, honestly probably the best singles match I’ve seen of our man Cosmo.

Cosmo Soldier vs Yoshikazu Taru, WYF 10/5/1997

Pretty fun 5 minutes. This was probably the most asskicking I’ve seen Taru dish out. He sure was confident putting a beating on Soldier here. Soldier can hit some quick takedowns but he eats lots of hard kicks and even karate chops from Taru. It looks like it’s gonna be a one sided trashing but the Soldier is able to land an awesome punch to the head and then fly recklessly into TARU with his awesome fast flip dive. It looks like Soldier can mount something, but then he knocks himself loopy while trying a suplex and seconds later is KO’d by a big Taru high kick. Fun for all the things people like indy scum wrestler vs karateka matches, and condensed into 5 minutes too.

Cosmo Soldier vs Makoto Saito, WYF 1997/5/18

This appears to be taking place in the WYF Dojo, so that alone is amazing to see. The match is fun too, as it’s basically raw unpolished BattlARTS style. Lots of tight grappling and evil strikes with both guys weaving in some big moves to keep it exciting. Saito looks really cool here, really peppering Soldier with sharp kicks. Soldier tries a few things, some come off well, like his out of nowhere headscissor takedown, some are slightly ill fated, but the spirit was there. Nothing here locks planned and it’s just really raw and uncooperative stuff. Not for the faint of the heart but sometimes a raw messy fight like this cleans the soul.

2024 MOTYC List Update #3

 

Chon Shiryu vs Keisuke Ishii, Ganbare Pro 7/15/2024

Chon Shiryu big match!! I love Chon Shiryu, and this was a nice chance to see him do his thing. He is still really fast and slick, and his kung fu technique really add a lot to the Japanese big match formula. Initially Keisuke Ishii did not impress me, but he redeemed himself when he started destroying Shiryus mid section with violent looking knees. Ishii dropping Shiryus throat across the rope with a nasty move and then going for a piledriver on the apron made things quite intense. Shiryu pulls off some great transitions as usual that are a level above what you usually see in these matches, and his signature odd angle 619s and diving kicks still rule. Last couple minutes were buil around Shiryu taking crazy bumps, trying to crush Ishiis throat with his flying stomps, and delivering some really great glassy eyed selling as he kept dying and ressurrecting over and over. Could have done with a few nearfalls less, but what the hell, you don’t get to see Shiryu doing matches like this often! I also like that they made a spinning wheel kick into a finisher in 2024.

 

Super Taira vs Kenta Kosugi, Sportiva 10/30/2024

Really good match that told a great story, was interesting all the way through and had some great wrestling. I really like Super Taira, who has such a diverse skillset. In this case he was facing Kosugi who is like twice his size, so he couldn't do much lucha libre or llaves, so Tairas answer was to just try and rush him with leg kicks. Taira kicking at Kosugi and trying to hurt his legs was simple but really good. Anytime Kosugi fired back, he looked like an absolute bear. I cannot emphasize enough that every single moment in this match mattered and added to the story. I loved the way Kosugi would slap his knees to try as if to try and get some feeling back into it after taking damage. Taira using his agility in interesting ways and trying to grab submissions was really good. There were some really choice counters without being too cute. By the end Kosugi was basically an angry bear mauling Taira with Taira trying to hit a desperation move and get a flash pin or submission. I really like a simplistic wrestling match that ads some interesting touches, and this one really hits thats spot.

Demus vs. Lunatik Xtreme, Zona 23 1/21

I am not super interested in deathmatches at this point, there are only so many idiotic bumps one can see before it gets old, and  I have little interest in seeing guys stand around and rubbing light tubes in each others face. That said the psychotic violence here was really fun with the apocalyptic junkyard bumps. Early brawling could have been better, aside from Demus great elbows there was still a bit much of idle walking around and an exhibitiony feeling to me. Match took a steep upturn when Xtreme started hitting those wild stomps. After some fun comeuppance we get Demus throwing what is pretty much the greatest punch combo I've ever seen in a match and some savage headbutt exchanges which were easily the highlight. I honestly expected the match to go longer so the finish was an amusing surprise. I didn't like it as much as I liked Black Terry vs Wotan or Ricky Marvin from memory, but it was a fun slice of psycho violence.

2024 MOTYC List