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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Assorted 2003 AJPW

 Yuki Ishikawa & Tomoaki Honma vs. Ryuji Hijikata & Shigeo Okumura, AJPW 2/16/2003

This has to be one of the most criminal examples of clipping I‘ve ever seen of a Japanese match. We get 10 minutes of a 20 minute draw, but what we get is completely awesome. Ishikawa vs. Hijikata was as brutal as you expect, but the Okumura/Honma WAR sections completely blew me away. I should probably check out more Okumura from this time period as he looked awesome mauling Honma with WAR-like slaps and elbows. Okumura was in crush mode and it ruled. Honma kicking him in the back of the neck was the kind of unprofessional violence you want from a random Japanese undercard tag. Where‘s the rest of this, GAORA TV?

 

 Rikiya Fudo & Hideki Hosaka vs. Kohei Sato & Hirotaka Yokoi, AJPW 7/19/2003

This is one for the enjoyers of FUDO. Sato and Yokoi have absolutely no heat with the AJPW crowd at this point, but they can throw some fun punches and head kicks, and Fudo is great mauling them. He is way less fat in 2003 than 2022 but he still looks convincing crushing much bigger guys. He was a lot faster too so his lariats and jumping kicks really hit the shooters like a train, just trying to take peoples heads off. Hosaka is average but he doesn't suck and you have to admire how he tried to polish his look for his big AJPW run with some really nice tights, a cool belt and slicked back black hair.

Kohei Sato & Hirotaka Yokoi vs. Tomoaki Honma & Kazushi Miyamoto, AJPW 7/19/2003

Tumeric Storm, what a team! Coming into this the ring is already covered in Honmas blood from the previous match, and immediately Honma gets busted again and bleeds like crazy. Talk about loving the taste of your own blood. Yokoi and Sato finally get over with the AJPW fans by being nasty pricks kicking and punching a bloody Honma in the face, and Honma is a really great underdog. Especially loved all the bits where Sato kicked Honma in the skull really hard. Miyamoto is perfectly good as an athletic guy who tags in quick to hit some snappy offense and Honmas underdog performance is impeccable as always.

Nobutaka Araya vs. Arashi, AJPW 7/13/2003

How do you get a good match out of Arashi in 2003? By making it really short, really bloody, and chock full of violent strikes of course! Araya rules so hard here, busting a toolbox over Arashis head and then bleeding like crazy and eating really vicious strikes. Those jaw punches were awesome and sick. Arashi is pretty good as a phlegmatic Tenryu here destroying Araya with brutal punches and face kicks. He even surprised me by almost crushing Arayas face with a crazy fat guy dropkick. If you want to watch two fat ex sumos bleed and destroy each other for 5 minutes check this out.

CAPTURE International 7/20/2022

 Sanshu Tsubakichi & Hiroshi Yamato vs. Daisuke Kanehira & Touki Hatano (?)

Fun as hell CAPTURE opening match which reminded me of those FUTEN opening matches where everyone dials up the stiffness, cuts out the bullshit and gives their best. Really really dug Yamato once again, who went barefoot into this therefore accentuating his Tarzan Boy-ish feistiness and Carl Greco-like grappling more. He may have been the best guy in the match, busting out cool flash submissions, a really great belly to belly suplex where he crunched the other guys spine against the guardrail before throwing him, and he worked hard in the second half bumping his ass off on that stiff mat and throwing out another big headbutt. He also shows good timing. The other guys are obviously limited but the CAPTURE format really allows them to shine. First half had some solid shootstyle grappling and the second had everyone busting out a few cool things. Hatano is a young kickpadded HEAT-UP guy and solid grappling and trading hard blows. I liked a handful of things he did on the mat and he had good fire. Tsubakichi is a lot of fun as old veteran guy throwing cool body shots and hitting an STO, he also almost caved in a guys face with a big enzuigiri at one point. Kanehira is obviously limited but I was surprised by him busting out some pretty cool shit in the second half. This was really good, honestly and I should check out more Yamato I think.

Rikiya Fudo vs. Keisuke Goto

This is a good match up! Fudo is consistently a highlight on these CAPTURE shows brutalizing everything in his path, and Goto is pudgy and feisty. This was as enjoyable as the match up promises, Goto running into a brick wall and Fudo just trying to take his head off. Fudo may also be the best guy in the world at using his weight, his basic side choke looks like it would really crush your ribs in. Goto does one or two nifty things and the „CAPTURE matches can end at any move“ rule makes this a really fun 5 minutes.

Kazumasa Yoshida vs. Mizuki Watase

Yoshida is a BJW guy who I think replaced Kosuke Sato on this show. This was largely solid but unspectacular with a few crazy moments, these guys are hardly brilliant on the mat and don‘t quite have the true CAPTURE reckless lunacy down when standing up, their elbow exchanges felt very stale BJW-ish as they took turns hitting each other. That said there were a few great moments, especially loved Watases senton against the guardrail, as well as the crazy head drop throw. And the finish was rotten stiff. I was iffy on parts of this but the big moments here got them on my good side.

Hokuto Ohmori vs. Takahiro Tababa

Ohmori is an AJPW guy who really doesn‘t feel on the level of the other guys on this show, imagine Jun Akiyama working CAPTURE in 1998 and getting outclassed by Nihao or Basara. He‘s really nothing on the mat and kept going for misstimed rolling elbows. I enjoyed Tababa brutalizing him with a kidney-stone-crushing spin kicks and some more vicious hits to the face. Not much to see here aside from Tababas kicks and his big bump for Ohmoris falcon arrow, but even we saw that bump in the opener.

Super Crafter U & Naoya Nomura vs. Koji Doi & Kuma Arashi

This was some good big boy basement shootstyle. I imagine I probably won‘t enjoy Doi and Arashis act in a regular wrestling promotion but the CAPTURE basement shootstyle dungeon setting adds a bunch of rawness and unpredictability to make their beef boy act compelling. I was surprised Doi looked pretty good, almost Nakanishi esque, he engaged in some good heavyweight shootstyle exchanges, took punishment and dished out some insane jaw cracking elbows and lariats. Crafter U and Nomura have formed NEO BLOOD and they are such a fun unit, I continue to enjoy Crafter Us tricky grappler who can dish out punishment act, and Nomura just constantly going for the kill with his spears is insanely entertaining. Arashi looked good as a powerhouse out of his element against the shootstylist Crafter, he also had a big senton that may have been the most violent on the show. Doi catching Nomuras spear was also a really good „guy tries to bulldoze but gets caught“ spot. I‘m not sure I really want more AJPW guys to show up in CAPTURE but this was insanely effective with the simple powerhouse vs. Shooter story and the match had plenty of brutality, actually made me want to see a Doi singles match vs. Nomura or another CAPTURE guy, which I really didn‘t expect going in.

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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

CAPTURE International 3/23/2022

First CAPTURE show to make tape in 19 years baby! Purchase it here

Daisuke Kanehira vs. Mizuki Watase

Pretty fun opening match between two juniors with dyed hair where they dialed up the stiffness to 11 like it‘s CAPTURE or something. They did some alright grappling and then waffled each other fierce. Couple fun spots such as a nasty guardrail drop, missile dropkick off the guardrail that looked tricky and a nasty rolling senton into the guardrail. Reminds me of those short FUTEN opening matches, I'm not sure I would want to check out these guys doing HEAT-UP undercard matches but the CAPTURE factor upgrades everything.

Fuminori Abe & Sanshu Tsubakichi vs. JOHTA & Keisuke Goto

Now this is the real CAPTURE material. 4 lunatics beating each other to death in a basement and not holding back in the slightest. JOHTA is a 20 year CAPTURE veteran, he is clearly a bit flabby and old but still looks like a menacing force in his ADIDAS pants. Abe is great when he cuts out the bullshit, and he did cut out the bullshit here. Keisuke Goto is a guy who was apparently trained in a joshi dojo, and he is a fun thick guy who can eat nasty kicks and retaliate with full bodyweight dropping sentons. Tsubakichi is fun and works stiff, hitting some nice body punches. Abe/JOHTA interactions were great and I loved how Johta got in peoples faces, grabbing the referee by the scruff, he came across as tough and out of control. Some really violent kicks and headbutts and Abe trying to break his fist on JOHTAs thick skull. I really liked how Abe was cocky initially and seemed to have the upper hand only to end being left a bloody mess by JOHTA.

Boxing Gloves Match: Takahiro Tababa vs. Super Tiger II

It‘s a boxing gloves match, baby. Short but very entertaining because Tababa was in „Beat a man to death“ mode here. He just pounced on poor Tiger and proceeded to drive his fists into him without relenting. Tiger looks overwhelmed but he has some fun comebacks shutting down Tababas rage and he looked like he really wanted to end this as soon as possible. The kick he caught him with was awesome. I think this went 4 minutes which is just right.

Takuya Nomura vs. Hiroshi Yamato

Yamato is this ex-AJPW guy who seems to be trying to be the most booked man on the Japanese indies. He‘s EVERYWHERE. And to my surprise he is pretty good at working basement shootstyle. Lots of fun grappling (Yamato trained with Virus), and while Yamato isn‘t a crowbar shooter there are some moments where they stand up and try to slap the skin off of each other. Really liked Yamatos jumping kicks, he came across as a pro wrestler tightening up his act to hang with a badass. Nomura looked quite good as usual. The suplex bumps were insane considering how thin that mat looks and the KO finish looked like it sent the guy to another dimension. Good shit.

2/3 Falls: Naoya Nomura & Super Crafter U vs. Rikiya Fudo & Kosuke Sato

The best match on this great show. Crafter is a masked guy who can do some fun grappling and hit people hard. Sato is a kickpadded BJW guy with good energy. And Fudo is just an awesome crowbar. I wasn‘t sure how AJPW boy Nomura would do but he has great energy and is willing to kill and get killed. Comprise all that into a 10 minute match and you have yourself one hell of a fight. Also add 2/3 falls rule means that any move can be a finish. Fudo is so great here, standing tall and beating the life out of people with Vader Hammers, shoot headbutts and the most violent splashes on earth. His sumo charge that bounced the other guy into the guardrail was also fantastic. All the Fudo/Nomura exchanges were damn great. I loved that Nomura is this guy who was primed to become an AJPW main eventer and Fudo just doesn't give a fuck at all and beats him like a dog. Nomura kept hitting these great spears. I really liked how when Fudo faced the other guy, Crafter just gave him some leg kicks and tagged out, I can understand not wanting to deal with that dude. Last fall was super intense and energetic with guys catching hands, eating sick headbutts and trying to tap each other out. Pro wrestling is good again.

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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.

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.

Assorted Japanese Indy Wrestling starring ISAMI

 No, we are not talking about the K-Dojo trainee/Big Japan deathmatch guy Isami Kodaka in this post. This ISAMI is a karateka who seems to be in his 40s or 50s and works scummy underbelly Japan indies. There must have been a hundred guys like that - businessmen with black belts who randomly decided to get into the ring for a few one of matches, as long as they stick to what they know I am going to enjoy them doing their thing. This ISAMI isn't exactly Masashi Aoyagi, but he has uploaded some matches against interesting opponents to his YouTube channel, which is prime fodder for this blog.

ISAMI vs. Gajo, ?? 8/19/2020(?)

This takes place in a ring with chains instead of ropes. That is the signature of Fugo Fugo Yumeji's Underground Wrestling EXIT, but I'm not sure this is that promotion. Gajo is a massive bald dude who works a bit like a sleazy Kaz Fujita and doesn't make tape nearly enough. This was rounds and just two dudes beating on each other, no grappling or throws, just Gajo wailing on this with big open palm strikes and ISAMI firing back with karate offense. The whole thing is over in about 7 minutes and it has a real CAPTURE vibe. For such a minimalist fight there were a few neat things, such as Gajo getting caught when he tried rushing the karateka early, and the big Ikedaesque lariat to the side of the head that downed ISAMI. It's always refreshing to see a stiff Japanese match with no elbow smashes or shoulder blocks.

ISAMI vs. Rikiya Fudo, 3/17/2019

Rikiya Fudo is YUSAKU (Shimoda) who used to work DDT undercards and CAPTURE. So he has experience doing these kind of minimalist crowbarfests, and he looked good crowbarring the fuck out of ISAMI here. Just pummeling the guy with vader hammers and elbow drops. Fudo is a bit more pro-wrestling like than Gajo, but he really does all his pro wrestling things in a crowbar fashion, hitting a really hard legdrop and a big splash that ISAMI sold like he was gonna puke on the mat. Love this kind of abject violent squash.

ISAMI vs. Yuki Ishikawa, 12/25/2018

For some reason, I don't recall many Ishikawa matches where he faces a pure striker like this. Of course, Ishikawa rules, and this ended up being another near squash. ISAMI really beat on Ishikawa nowhere near as hard as you need to beat on Ishikawa. This had the most grappling of any matches so far and is really the Ishikawa show, which I enjoy. Another neat finish.