REAL BLOOD The Maximum 12/26/2022

 Keisuke Goto vs. Tomoki Hatano

Boxing Gloves: Raito Shimizu vs. Rocky Kawamura

Hiroshi Yamato vs. Ryo Inoue

Daisuke Kanehira vs. Shingo

Naoya Nomura & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Super Crafter U & Rikiya Fudo

Slightly disappointing card mostly because it was rather pro style and they wrestled in a ring. Opener was just a route rookie squash with Hatano getting some bits of not very impressive or spectacular token offense, and Goto hitting some fun offense but not really brutalizing Hatano enough to make it special. Shimizu vs. Kawamura didn't get much going in the first two rounds mostly because they tried to do some ill-fated grappling. It's a boxing gloves match stupid, just hit each other in the face instead of trying to tumble on the mat! The 3rd round was pretty fun though.

The best and most solid match by far was Yamato vs. Inoue. Yamato is a real workhorse and pretty much carried this match against a bland kicker with his cool submission work and suplexes. The last two matches were alright but could have been better. Shingo did some cool submissions and counters which made his match interesting while Kanehira was mailing it in. The main event was a pro style match and felt like wasted potential considering how awesome the last REAL BLOOD main event was. Fudo was cool but everyone else was pretty much going to the motions. I am gonna blame this one on a Christmas hangover. We need a real CAPTURE show again, isn't Nomura their champion or something? Please dial Kitahara.

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CAPTURE International 5/8/2022 Night Show

  Buy it here

1. Takahiro Tababa & Rocky Kawamura vs. Raito Shimizu & Hiroshi Yamato

Another solid 6 minute CAPTURE opener where everyone gets to look good in short bursts. I really liked how Shimizu tried to play tough guy against Kawamura and Kawamura just punched him in the face hard, that should happen more often. Tababa then came in and bruised Shimizus mid section with some crowbar kicks. Yamato looked good again, busting out another crazy headbutt and his jumping kick is a pretty cool spot.

CAPTURE Tournament Semifinal Matches:
2. Super Crafter U vs. Takuya Nomura

Short match where they basically went for the kill from the start. Crafter U has some nifty kicks for an old looking guy, and he does a nice job turning Nomuras aggression against him.

3. Rikiya Fudo vs. Naoya Nomura

This was an awesome violent sprint that felt like it could end at any moment, Nomura being the young hotness in CAPTURE facing the monster that is FUDO. Fudo may have the most violent offense on the planet , tight face-wrenching headlocks, lung-bursting chops, big Vader Hammers and lariats, an elbow drop and senton that looks like it would leave a man with internal bleeding, Fudo just doesn‘t hold back on anything and it‘s awesome. Nomura was great absorbing the punishment and trying to take him down, and seeing him reach deep and hit those left-right elbows was awesome. His selling was really good too, as even after he hit a move he could barely get up, probably both from the punishment he took and from how much power he had excerted. The match ends in a flash, but what the hell, for a 5 minute match this was insanely good.

4. Keisuke Goto & Kosuke Sato vs. Daisuke Kanehira & Mizuki Watase

For a bunch of indy guys, this was really good, really stiff action. They do a mix of fun grappling and trying to crack each others jaws with nasty elbows. The elbow exchanges were a bit veering into your turn-my turn territory but at least they hit each other insanely hard. I really enjoyed Goto once again as a tubby guy who just shoulder blocks people really hard and squishes guys with sentons, and Sato was really energetic. The HEAT UP team held up their end giving and dishing some nasty punishment. Because it‘s CAPTURE you expect any move to be a finish, and even a basic vertical suplex looks absolutely brutal because they are wrestling on that tin mat. CAPTURE magic was at play, but they did a nice job working with the points system making this really good indy shootstyle overall.

5. CAPTURE Title Tournament Finals MMA Gloves Match: Super Crafter U vs. Naoya Nomura

This tournament has been one hell of a ride, and this was a worthy finale. Super Crafter U had some nice Fujiwara-ish counters to Nomuras size and aggression. Once they stood up and threw strikes things got intense, even a main event can end anytime in CAPTURE and that was felt with each move. Spear spots felt really violent, also due to Nomuras selling as he made it look as if he was wrecking himself too. The finish was cool and felt like a moment where someone kicking away at a prone opponent backfired. I was not sure how Nomura would continue to do going into this tournament but I am on board with him at this point.

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CAPTURE International 5/8/2022 Daytime Show

 Buy it here

1. Keisuke Goto & Raito Shimizu vs. Sanshu Tsubakichi & Takahiro Tababa

Nice to see my boy Shimizu work a CAPTURE show again. This was two kickpadded crowbars facing a pair of thick powerhouses and pretty fun, clearly meant to set the mood for the day. Everyone hits hard and does their thing. I continue to be invested in Keisuke Goto who has the potential to become a cool mini-Yoshie, his clubbering and big senton are really nice. Shimizu hit some big throws and Tababa and Tsubakichi hit some snug kicks, and Tsubakichi had a nice STO. The whole thing was really short at just 6 minutes too to remind everyone CAPTURE matches can end at any point, I really liked the finish as Tababa had a sleeper on Goto, who signaled for his partner to come help him only to be choked out anyways moments later. I dig a short match that puts over the sleeper hold.

2. Takuya Nomura vs. Mizuki Watase

This was pretty much your typical indy undercard match with no ring and the stiffness dialed up to 11 because it‘s CAPTURE. Solid effort but it‘s feels a bit controlled compared to your better CAPTURE affairs, they did some perfunctory matwork and then moved on to back and forth strike exchanges, which is something you see in basically every Japanese match now, but this was kept short at least and the stiffness was high. Watase brained Nomura with an absolutely murderous headbutt, but he also pissed me off a bit by no selling a German suplex on that thin mat. Violent finish. Perfectly fine short undercard as we move on to the really good stuff.

3. Super Crafter U vs. Kosuke Sato

This was much better, exactly that dungeon shootstyle goodness you are looking for and eschewing a typical by the numbers indy match structure. Sato is a BJW rookie and he has serious fight in him. Crafter U is kind of lumpy and old, nobody knows who he is and I wonder if he‘s some U-Style leftover who put on some pounds, whoever he is he is a really fun worker as he can do both the sick hard hitting as well as bust out some nifty surprise submissions and kicks. This was the right mix of guys dropping bombs on each other when standing and neat matwork, with a nifty finish.

4. Naoya Nomura vs. Hiroshi Yamato

I‘d never have expected it, but Yamato is starting to grow on me. Even though he doesn‘t have shoot style strikes, he is a really good scrambly matworker, and largely made this match. I really liked how when Nomura started to kick at Yamatos arm/shoulder, Yamato immediately seeked to equalized by attacking Nomuras leg. Yamato also uncorked another absolutely brutal headbutt. Nomura worked this match like a big powerful guy who will ram you and throw the fuck out of you, and that really works considering he has size and is a rugby guy. It also helps that a simple body slam will look absolutely devastating on that thin mat. Really good little match with a few nifty moments.

5. Rikiya Fudo vs. Rocky Kawamura

Fudo looked like a monster in this, tanking Kawamuras body shots and almost taking his head off with a huge Vader Hammer. Fudo took Kawamura down and then really grinded him into the mat, locking in a kesagatame that looked so heavy like it would make Kawamuras chest explode. Kawamura gets in an awesome desperation punch combo, but Fudo just crushes him. Once again Fudos big splash looked like it weighted 10000 kilos. This was one hell of a squash match.

 

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Over the Future 4: Kotaru Nasus Return Match 3/6/2022

 Raito Shimizu vs. Super Macho Monkey

I've enjoyed these two before. I was hoping they would do a quasi shootstyle match since that is where Monkey seems most comfortable, but they just kind of did a very basic undercard indy match. I would've liked this with some matwork, I still enjoy Shimizu doing his thing, any guy with a nice gutwrench suplex and torture rack is on my good side in 2022, but Monkey isn't that kind of pro wrestler yet.

Keisuke Goto vs. Gabai-jichan

I was hoping to see Goto do more serious stuff after his CAPTURE outing, but he is stuck with Gabai-jichan here. Gabai-jichan is doing an old man with a walking cane gmmick. Amazing how much silly shit you can do with a walking cane in a wrestling match, but the joke gets old fast. I would've preferred them to run Goto vs. Shimizu instead and put Monkey in the skippable match.

Rikiya Fudo vs. Daisaku Shimoda

Fudo is must watch in 2022 as far as I'm concerned simply for working every match in insanely violent fashion. And Shimoda is his twin brother. This was pretty much the sleazier 2022 version of a WAR heavyweight match, two lumpy dudes cracking each other with really violent shots. Once again Fudos ground attacks were brutal as hell, just chest crushing elbow drops and splashes. The pace was slow and both these guys are clearly really beaten up but they had their working boots on. I like how they never resorted to stupid I hit you-you hit me stuff but also kept cracking each other. The missed vader hammer into backslide was also a surprisingly nice spot. The ending was just them standing on the floor stubbornly cracking each other while the ref counted them out and you have to respect this kind of brotherly rivalry. I enjoyed this a lot.

2/3 Falls: Manabu Hara & Hayato Mashita vs. Kotaru Nasu & Tatsuhito Takaiwa

Takaiwa is almost 50 and still doing these kind of hard hitting matches, god bless him. This was a lot of fun, had a good pace and everyone was hitting hard. I wanted some shootstyle exchanges but you can't have it all I guess. Still really enjoyed all these guys kicking the snot out of each other. Hara is ever solid, and Nasu and Mashita looked pretty decent too for two guys who never impressed me much in their youth, but they are older and lumpier now and really lay in their kicks. 2/3 falls rule made for some fun psychology and in-peril sections. Someone really needs to restart BattlARTS and consistently book all these indy shooters so they can find their groove again and do matches like this on the regular.

The Library

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.

A Very MUME Christmas

 

Hiroshi Watanabe & Yasushi Sato vs. Manabu Hara & Raito Shimizu, Mumejuku 1/13/2020

What a Christmas present from the guys at Mumewhatever (apparently this group has undergone multiple names from Mumei to Mumetoha to Mumejuku but I‘m filing them all under Mumejuku)! Just a wonderful matchup. Watanabe and Shimizu start this with some solid hold for hold exchanges, before things spice up with Hara vs. Sato. That section was just magical, just the right combination of shootstyle grappling vs. Satos tight veteran pro style holds. Then, Hara brained Sato with a sick kick that was way stiffer than what you‘d expect a 50 year old guy to take to the back of his head. The whole match had a surprising level of stiffness as later Sato busted out some stiff elbows and clocked Shimizu with an absolutely nasty shoot headbutt. As usual with Sato matches there was some neat psychology. For example, Shimizu kept reversing his gutwrench suplex attempts into his own, until Sato spotted it and hit a really neat counter where he fell on top. Another neat detail was Watanabe being wobbly after being in Haras triangle choke despite being able to break the hold. Satos springboard crossbody as also way prettier than anything you‘d expect from him. Second Sato/Hara section was really great too. I loved how Sato hit a Terry Funk style punch combo to Shimizu, but then immediately was overwhelmed by Haras shoot striking. As always, Sato makes great use of the russian leg sweep. Watanabe also looks really spry here including hitting some great suplex and carrying the ending section with his selling. Another absolute gem from this crew. I also have no idea why Hara isn‘t signed to a major company as he‘s in insane shape and looked great.

White Moriyamas Return to Pro Wrestling Part 2

 

White Moriyama & Takafumi Ito vs. Raito Shimitsu & Tetsuya Ido, Heat-Up 2/19/2021

This was probably the best Heat-Up match I’ve seen so far. It had the smooth matwork and stiffness of the previous matches, plus a story, and they worked a breathless pace. Moriyama and Shimitsu have heat now, and all their exchanges felt heated, even tho there was no crowd. We start right with Moriyama taking Shimitsu down and going for the kill with an armbar, before Shimitsu throws him off. We get a cool slick Ito/Ido matwork section  before they move into Shimitsu and Ido working over Moriyama mostly involving Shimitsu throwing Moriyama around. Really good comeback tease spot where Moriyama takes out Shimitsus bad leg. His actual comeback ends up being great too as he just catches Ido flush in the face with a spin kick. Extended finishing stretch built around Shimitsu uncorking all of his great looking throws and Moriyama rolling out a dozen submission reversals (with Shimitsu once again doing a really good job selling those submissions) was really good. At one point, Shimitsu got out of a triangle choke by just spinning Moriyama around, which was something I had never seen before. Heat Up is looking really promising right now putting out some of the best neo-shootstyle work.

White Moriyama vs. Takafumi Ito, HEAT-UP 10/22/2020

Man, promotions really missed the boat not giving Takafumi Ito more to do in the 10s. I really liked this match, they did some cagey defensive work early trying to crack each other, before Moriyama cranked up the pace just trying to catch a hold later. Ito looks crafty and the finish with him trapping both of Moriyamas arms before sinking in a choke was great.

White Moriyama vs. Hiroshi Watanabe, Heat-Up 12/24/2020

Ridiculously fun match built around Moriyama trying to use his shootstyle and Watanabe catching him in side headlocks, abdominal stretches and O’Connor roles. Great finish with Moriyama spinning around and into a heel hook that nearly twisted Watanabes foot off. I wish it had gone longer. It seems Watanabe considers himself over the hill at this point which is said because I love the guy.

White Moriyamas Return to Pro-Wrestling

Man, White Moriyamas return to pro wrestling completely flew under my radar. He was never the 5th best guy in FUTEN or U-Style, but by 2021 standards he's basically Tamura. 

 White Moriyama vs. Tetsuya Ido, Heat-Up 2/28/21

 This was a really fun, unpredictable 10 minute match with a surprising amount of hate. Ido is a kick padded kid who acts all cocky towards veteran Moriyama. Moriyama puts him in his place with some slick, fast grappling, so Ido retaliates with an awesome stomp to Moriyamas face. Ido kicks hard and his spinning choke is a fun false finish, so I am completely fine. Finishing run was really cool with Moriyama giving Ido the business with his kicks, including throwing these cool Tamura style leaping kicks, and some slick U-Style grappling. You can tell Moriyamas grappling is a class above what most guys can do these days the way he would move in and out of submissions. Dug all the slick leg locks.

White Moriyama & Takafumi Ito vs. Raito Shimitsu & Tetsuya Ido, Head-Up 1/29/2021

Really good little match. We get some really good U-STYLE opening grappling to start. Most of the Japanese wrestlers we’ve seen in the last 10 years doing that kind of wrestling have been old veterans, so it was nice to see Shimitsu and Ido step up and show they have no problem doing that kind of wrestling. I haven’t seen Takafumi Ito in a while, but he looked good here. He had some cool leg stretches, and this really cool cravate choke that nearly popped Shimitsus head off. Shimitsus head was turning really blue and pale while in that. Shimitsu came in with a bandage on his leg, and Moriyama and Ito work over it a bit. Really cool spot where Shimitsu tries using his typical idiot strength but fails due to his leg. Shimitsus selling in general down the stretch was really good. The finish was built around Shimitsu trying to hit his power moves with Moriyama countering them. It wasn’t as grand as the stuff we saw in other matches but it was cool. I am pleasantly surprised by Heat-Up delivering the goods with these matches, why is GLEAT not using these boys?

White Moriyama vs. Raito Shimitsu, Heat-Up 2/25/2021

Fun 5 minute sprint built around Shimitsu trying to crush Moriyama with his throws and Moriyama countering him and kicking him in the head. Shimitsu acted a bit like a Sekimoto clone here, but in the end Moriyama put him to sleep, so I wasn’t bothered. Moriyama had some slick counters and surprisingly violent kicks.

White Moriyama vs. Yu Iizuka, Heat-Up 11/26/2020

7 minute sprint where they hit the mat and don’t slow down, grabbing holds left and right. Very nice to see this kind of slick matwork again. At this point I’m used to seeing wrestling where there’s always at least one guy in a match who really sucks, but Iizuka looks like the real deal here and holds up very well. Very promising young wrestler.

More Japanese YouTube Channel Explorations

 

Rikiya Fudo vs. Raito Shimitsu (?? 12/22/2019)

When I watched Raito Shimitsu vs. Yuki Ishikawa, I was hoping he would get more interesting stuff like this to do. Well, I don’t know if “getting the bricks beat out off of you by Fudo in a chain ring match” technically counts, but it sure is something. This goes 5 minutes and is basically the worlds greatest WCWSN squash. Fudo is a great stiffer Finlay in this, just beating the life out of Raito with sick vader hammers, lariats and chops. His ground moves may be even more devastating as he just drops his entire body weight into an elbow drop or senton. His big splash that left Raito gasping for air looked absolutely sick. Raito gets 1 or 2 brief moments of offense, including a nice judo throw, but his Karelin Lift gets denied and Fudo just finishes him like he owed him money. Very short, very violent. It was a good bout. 

Yasushi Sato vs. Masamune (Mumejuku 6/3/2018)

Unexpectedly, a pretty great match. Masamune is a masked indy guy who was trained in Mexico. I have no idea what got into them here, but they hit the mat and had an outstanding match. Starts with a bunch of cool amateur matwork and cradles and then develops really well into this intense battle that felt like it could have taken place in Coliseo Coacalco. I know Yasushi Sato is a Mumejuku regular so probably used to doing matwork heavy matches, but I was surprised by how well Masamune did here. Both guys had some brilliant holds, especially dug the whacky leglocks which were set up really well, and there were a number of nifty spots. Really loved Masamune catching Sato on the knee drop and him braining Sato hard with an out of nowhere Tiger Feint Kick after a rope break, aswell as the crazy rolling pin he broke out. Also loved both guys randomly going into escrima pummeling like 15 minutes into the match, which lead to Sato hitting his awesome deadlift belly to belly suplex. Finishing stretch was built around Sato trying to lock in his grapevine/straight jacket hold signature move and Masamune fighting it off in different ways. Sato further establishes himself as the king of the Russian Leg Sweep by hitting another awesome one. Really really compelling stuff, I’ve no idea how these guys bothered to put this much intellligence and technical skill in a non-mainstream match for a small audience but I’m glad we got to watch.

Mr. Gannosuke vs. Manabu Hara (Batos Cafe 4/3/2018)

Awesome match, which may actually be the best Gannosuke singles I’ve seen, which is crazy to say about a match that happened in 2018. I guess random uploads from Japanese micro indy related YouTube channels are the new gold. I think this was during Gannosukes retirement run so he was bringing the goods. First half of the match is all matwork. Suruga is obviously younger and more athletic and pushing the pace, so Gannosuke breaks out a bunch of awesome Fujiwaraesque counters. Totally didn’t know he had that in him. Second half Suruga continues to dominate by laying into Gannosuke with kicks and palms, I also did not expect a 48 year old has-been-coasting-for-years Gannosuke to eat that kind of stiff punishment. It’s really all about whether Gannosuke is tough enough to survive and break out a counter or whether the younger wrestler will blow him away. Gannosuke is of course a really fun tricky pro wrestler, he can always turn a match around by just kicking someone in the balls or busting out his awesome Gannosuke Clutch, and he fires back with some crowbar lariats and big bombs of his own. No idea what’s been going on lately with so many awesome unexpected Japan indy matches popping up but I love it.