Return to MUGA

 Osamu Nishimura vs Shane Rigby, MUGA 1995/10/29

 MUGA from 1995 baby. Rigby is one of those catch guys from northern england. He is a pretty fun grappler, cool suplexes and has a certain unique flavor to him the way he would angle for submissions. Obviously there’s a bunch of cool matwork and submissions here, but also a surprising amount of aggression. Surprisingly Nishimura is the one who starts by cheapshotting Rigby, and Rigby fires off some low kicks at one point. They keep refusing to clean break with the referee admonishing them so much. Nishimura bitchslapping Rigby was a real fucker move. Then he even punches the ref, but he’s somehow not disqualified. The finish is this really nice struggle over a suplex before Nishimura is able to throw Rigby with a cool shootstyle looking northern lights suplex. Lots of cool grappling and moments throughout this, felt like something out of the 1930s.

RIP Osamu Nishimura

 

Osamu Nishimura & Keiji Mutoh & Tadao Yasuda vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Yuji Nagata & Junji Hirata (NJPW 10/15/1995)

Really awesome match for a 12 minute 6 man tag. Nishimura isn’t Mr. Muga yet, he’s clad in blindingly silver gear and wrestles a more generic but energetic style. He puts the heat on Hirata early on, and then challenging Hashimoto. Hashimoto won’t tag in for a while, until he’s finally had enough and a hellish vengeance is unleashed on Nishimura as he just gets destroyed but he still hasn’t enough and dropkicks Hash in the back of the head. Awesome. Yasuda is also pretty great here like a more massive version of Taue, sumo rushing people and putting the boots to Hash. Mutoh doesn’t do shit in this match and it’s for the better. I also enjoyed Nagata and Hirata delivering straight forward punishment. But in general this is a really awesome ‘Hash fucks everyone up’ match and another chapter in the book called Why Shinya Hashimoto is the GOAT.

Osamu Nishimura & Manabu Nakanishi vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Masahiro Chono, NJPW 6/5/2002

This is a legendary match in Osamu Nishimuras career, which for some reason has never been available in full until NJPW made it just now available on NJPW World. Bit sad they waited until Nishimuras death to release that, but this is an absolutely amazing match. Namely it is famous because of that moment where Nakanishis leg is injured and he leaves the match, leading Nishimura to remove his boots and turn into a barefoot grappling demon, but there’s lots of amazing wrestling surrounding it. I’ve never been super big on the non-Hashimoto, non-Fujinami side of NJPW heavyweight wrestling, so I was surprised how well Nakanishi, Tenzan and Chono did here. There is some really cool Chono/Nishimura grappling, people don’t think of Chono as much of a grappler but he does have that Lou Thesz heritage and he gets into some pretty interesting stuff with Nishimura. They work this in a very old school, almost Jim Crocket feeling fashion, not as in that there’s a ton of holds or something, but rather that everyone here really works to make the maximum out of basic things such as strikes. I also really appreciated that Tenzan and Nakanishi didn’t do any braindead endless chop exchanges, instead what we got was far more interesting with Nakanishi kind of bullying Tenzan with his own mongolian chops, and an angry Tenzan sometimes angrily shoot headbutting him. First half the match had lots of good stuff, also because I am used to modern wrestling being a trained monkey show even something as simple as Chono working over someone with knees in the corner was refreshingly straight forward. There were a few great moments, in particular Nishimura almost choking out Tenzan. They did a great segment with Nish really wrenching the fuck out of Tenzans neck, and Nakanishi coming in to smash Tenzans head into the mat like a gorilla was just perfect. They also do a nice job increasing the stakes of the match, with Chono going for his yakuza kicks early on and increasing the pressure on Nishimura, while Nishimura ends up taking a big beating. A really good energetic 1^st half that sets up the amazing second half which has the legendary barefoot warrior Nishimura moment, as well as an amazing Nakanishi performance. It feels shameful that Nakanishis performance here is rarely brought up among the greatest ever, but his leg selling really was that fucking good, and him smashing Tenzan to a bloody pulp may be one of the Top 10 greatest moments a match has ever had. Stretch run is absolutely fantastic working the crowd into a frenzy and also has the greatest nearfall for a backslide ever. They really drove the point home going for minimalism and getting the maximum out of the basics, that point is especially hammered home when Chono hits like 10 Russian Leg Sweeps on Nakanishi, followed by Nishimura repaying him with 10 barefoot dropkicks. An enraged Nishimura throwing the referee around and punching a bloody Tenzan in the face is about as good as wrestling gets. Amazing amazing match, I cannot say enough to emphasize how cool this was, just about the perfect broadway, never boring, interesting all the way through with some amazing moments and wrestling hewn in and Nishimura being just the best in his stubborn glory.

Osamu Nishimura vs Kazuo Yamazaki, NJPW 12/10/1995

You look at this match up and think “this sounds like a technical clinic”. But this is 1995, Nishimura is basically a young lion who looks like a lankier version of Muto, and he has not yet become the embodiment of MUGA. Instead of holds Nishimura bitchslaps Yamazaki and then it turns into both guys throwing down, with Yamazaki throwing bombs with his aggressive headbutts and razor sharp kicks and Nishimura throwing hands and blasting him with dropkicks. It’s a fun look at what could have been though MUGA Nishimura is still cooler. Nishimura shocks the crowd with how much he is able to beat up Yamazaki but then he goes for suplex and Yamazaki pulls him into a Fujiwara Armbar which he cranks as far back as I’ve ever seen a Fujiwara Armbar being pulled back for the tap. Just about a 5 minute match but it was really cool and this kind of ‘it can end at anytime’ stuff is what kept NJPW exciting in the 90s.

GENTARO Matches

 

GENTARO vs El Samurai, FREEDOMS 9/27/2009

Very nice little gem. They easily could’ve coasted and done the bare minimum and it would have been a good match, but instead they wrestle this like it’s a tribute to Samurai vs Otani from 1996. GENTARO was certainly riding high in the late 2000s cementing himself as workhorse doing technical epics left and right, and late career Samurai is extremely game. Lots of pretty great targeted limb work, the opening segment is basically 5 minutes of Samurai stubbornly going after Gentaros arm/shoulder with nasty kimuras and stomps, then Gentaro goes for the leg. It leads to some great subtly building selling. I love that Samurai still throws really good punches and stomps – his punches to GENTAROs nose were woe-inducing, and despite having slowed down he still looks like he’s no pushover for his younger opponent. This is very much wrestlers wrestler stuff but it’s exactly what you’d hope for if you know what these two are capable of.

GENTARO vs PSYCHO, YMZ 7/21/2014

With PSYCHO being announced for the next Mutoha show, I had to check this out. The first half of the match was kind of slow and dragged down by lazy heel tactics, but it actually gets good when they start doing what I like best, hitting the mat and trying to tap each other out and hitting some awesome reversals. We all know GENTARO is the king of making minimalistic mat stuff look awesome and he does lean into that here, but PSYCHO also has lots of really cool stuff in his sleeve. His cross arm/leglocks were pretty cool and he also had a nasty looking shin choke thing. They both get really into fighting over a Sharpshooter and it was probably some of the greatest Sharpshooter work I’ve honestly seen ever, with both guys busting out some really great reversals that I’ve not seen before, even for such a classic hold.

Osamu Nishimura vs. GENTARO, VKF 11/16/2015

Very nice match because they didn‘t go the predictable routine. Instead of tons of holds, they worked this as Nishimura the maestro teaching GENTARO a lesson. Nishimura would outgrapple him, and when GENTARO tried to go for punches Nishimura would absolutely rattle him with sick uppercuts. There was one really cool reversal from Nish where he twisted his way out of a bow and arrow and locked in a tight legbar on GENTARO. Very smartly worked match with a lot of selling where every move meant something. Very old school, probably the last great Nishimura match with GENTARO being a great dance partner and knowing his role perfectly.

2002 MOTY Project Update #21

 

Wataru Sakata vs. Yoshihito Sasaki, Z1 12/29/2002

Great BML style match. Sakata may have been the best junior in 2002 simply because he just goes for the kill all the time. You buy a random knee or low kick from him as knocking someone out, and on the ground he‘ll just start grinding the other guys face. Sasaki was just the right mix of cautious and aggressive. Him trying to control this dangerous shooter with headlocks and swinging away wildly with open hands and pro wrestling style crowbar shots was really great. Him randomly trying to grab an argentine rack has to be one of the greatest hope spots I‘ve ever seen. And Sakata was just a killer.

Carlos Amano vs. Meiko Satomura, GAEA 11/17/2002

These two only need about 5 and a half minutes to have an excellent match. Great constant scrappiness throughout, and there was some absolutely fabulous submission and counterwork throughout. Amano looked great busting out deadlift suplexes and some murderously stiff headbutts. Satomura fired back with her trademark kicks, and because of the sprint format every nearfall was great. Utterly brilliant finish. It annoys me to no hand there‘s no lengthy singles match between these two as veterans, as the stuff they do together is always so unique and undeniably great.

Osamu Nishimura vs. Yuji Nagata, NJPW 8/8/2002

At points this may have been even better than Nishimura vs. Takayama. Nishimura is this guy who just kind of gives everyone the same challenge, and Nagata was super game to grapple it out with him and threaten him with his dangerous submissions. First 15 minutes of this or so were a pretty sublime grappling epic as it‘s so fascinating to watch Nishimura control and counter his opponent. Nagata is really decent mixing it up by throwing some strikes and shoot suplexes into the mix. The match could‘ve been Top 10 level if Nagata didn‘t decide to complete bury Nishimuras legwork. Instead they went with Nishimura surviving Nagatas high end modern offense and countering with his 80s moves, which was still quite great. Nishimura was damn near superhuman in 2002.

 

2002 MOTY List

2002 MOTY List Update #11

 Osamu Nishimura vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (NJPW 8/10/2002)

I may be in the complete minority here, but I thought this wasn't as good a Nishimura/Rutten in some aspects, particularily because Takayama came across as holding back. This was still some pretty great character driven pro wrestling with a technical edge. Takayama doing those bridge up spots is wonderous. I wish he had sold the legwork a little more. Nishimuras throwback spots for massive reactions ruled as usual. Nishimura can actually set up a move or hit a pin combo that decides the match, so he never comes across as exhibitiony. Liked Takayama just kicking him like a dog, but this is largely the Nishimura show aside from the novelty of Takayama doing technical wrestling.

Osamu Nishimura vs. Takashi Iizuka (NJPW/MUGA 10/6/2002)

  Iizuka returns to wrestling. And he gets to fight Nishimura in a long technical battle! Is this the longest singles match Iizuka has ever been in? Does anyone even remember any significantly long Iizuka singles matches?? As far as lesser known 2002 Nishimura singles matches go, I'd say this was better than Nishimura/Shiga. Iizuka was much less luggage than Shiga, instead he was actively trying to crack the stoic grappler, while Nishimura seemed to have an answer to everything. Iizuka finally found what he was looking for when he got Nish in one of his sambo leg locks. An awesome battle of leg entanglements ensued that left both guys struggling to get up. Couple brilliant nearfalls down the stretch that I bit on. Nishimura was the man in 2002 and Iizuka more than held up.

 

Yuki Ishikawa vs. Shinjiro Ohtani (ZERO1 4/27/2002)

YO! This match is two sided. First of all, they level some epic beatings on eachother here. No doubt about it. Ohtani goes at Ishikawa like he just caught him with his daughter. Just punishing him with kicks, slaps, bloodying him, some nasty as hell face grinding, and he slaps the ring boys too for good measure. Ishikawa makes one or two epic comebacks, including one where he just punches Ohtani square in the face and another where he hits one of his stiffest enzuigiris ever and then tries to break Otanis arm in several places. So you feel like you are watching an epic fight, but then the match seemed to be lacking in well thought out transitions or some kind of twist and also it's all over in less than 9 minutes. For that there is plenty of asskicking going on here, but other than that – I guess I just expect deeper material from Ishikawa who is a master of the neat touch even in a short wild brawl. Then again this was largely the Otani show. But – if you want to tune out and watch two surely elderly japanese men throw the kitchen sink, this is your stuff.

 Masayuki Naruse vs. Takehiro Murahama (NJPW 8/29/2002)

  Naruse has to be in the running for most under utilized Japanese worker ever (you know, excluding guys who only worked Z-indies and only made tape a few times in 10 years). He didn't have a problem at all hitting the mat and trading nasty strikes for 20 minutes. This was some cool modern shootstyle action. There was a big size difference, but Murahama more than held his own with some lightning quick strikes. There was some slick U-Style matwork as well as plenty of manly kicks and suplexes. I thought the match was hurt a bit by NJPW being undecided whether it wanted to be a shootstyle or pro style company at this time and there were some slightly melodramatic touches towards the end.

 

2002 MOTY MASTER LIST

2002 MOTY List Update #10

 Negro Navarro & Shu El Guerrero vs. Solar & Skayde (AULL 11/1/2002)

Nothing better than a lucha match that starts with about 17 minutes of straight matwork that the crowd eats up. This is one of the earlier Navarro/Solar matchups and what they did here was pretty different from what they would do later, altough it was all great. This is also one of the better Skayde showings I've seen as him rolling with Shu is much more interesting than him rolling with one of his skinny trainees. Shu is just so physical, he does this thing where he goes on all fours or tailor seat and dares the other guy to move him. So Skayde puts a nasty toehold on him before going for a rolling stretch. Really really neat stuff that feels competitive. The later portions that had Shu throwing dropkicks and flying clothesines were also pretty great. Shu also hits a really great senton really squishing Skayde underneath, and locks in a nasty arm triangle with the arm trapped. Then Skayde would torture him further by putting all kinds of leglocks on him. The submissions and pins also work as near falls. Finish is between Solar and Navarro and suitably good. This is really a borderline classic, 20+ of high quality technical lucha at it's finest.

Bas Rutten vs. Osamu Nishimura (NJPW 10/14/2002)

One of the more unique matches in wrestling history, it's a kickpadded uncooperative modern day shooter vs. A classy early 70s technician. Rutten was great at pro wrestling no doubt about it, his selling of Nishimuras holds was great (did a better job there than most trained pro wrestlers) and he was basically threatening to KO Nish every single round. Rutten not holding back at all is a big part of why the match worked. Nishimura ruled as usual believably locking Rutten into his old school carny holds or dishing out the european uppercuts. I think this may have been better without the rounds but it had typical european build closer to a german style match (Nishimura spent a lot of time in germany and austria) than british as it had that simmering animosity. Nishimura slowly getting destroyed but getting in Ruttens head was really cool. By the last round they completely ditched the striking and just stubbornly went for the tap out.

Jushin Liger & Minoru Tanaka vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinob Kanemaru (NOAH 4/7/2002)

NOAH vs. NJ part two. Everyone is on fire! Liger is a no selling douche! Kikuchi is a mad old bugger who will take a chunk out of you without blinking! Clever nutshot spots! Mask ripping! Submissions are important! This match did a great job milking and amplifying the heat of the feud. Lean and strong pace with an emphasis on masks ripped open and nasty elbows from mount, this is the direction japanese wrestling should've kept going. Watch the backstage footage too! 

Shinya Hashimoto & Naoya Ogawa vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Scott Norton (NJPW 5/2/2002)

This is one of those feel good matches you can just back and enjoy every second of it. Basically Hashimoto & Ogawa waltz in and just destroy everything in their path. STOs, nasty kicks and chops and various cool combination moves abound. Norton & Tenzan don‘t stand much of a chance but they try. You get a great little Norton performance as he sells all the nasty chops and kicks he takes to his shoulder in a big way. There is an art to selling in such a way that everyone can emphatize with you even when you‘re a giant muscled up dude like Norton and he had it down. Tenzan also doesn‘t suck! 

 

2002 MOTY MASTER LIST