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.

The Trials of Hiroyoshi Tenzan

  

Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Shinya Hashimoto, NJPW 2/4/1995

I have been kinda dismissive of Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Thought he was a not super interesting guy with some goofy offense, based on a few mishappen performances in the 2000s. However, over the years my tastes may have changed, so maybe he deserves another look from me. I’ve grown to see the point of his persona – he is not meant to be a kind of refined martial artist like other NJPW peers, he has more of a raw primitive vibe i.e. he is just a tough savage beast that will try to chop your head off. It’s a trope in Japanese wrestling that harkens back to the likes of Thunder Sugiyama, and Tenzan at the very least brings an awesome mullet.

This, for starters, was a good fucking match. Well, no shit, it’s a Shinya Hashimoto big title match. It’s physically impossible for those to be not good. That said, Tenzan brings his unique personality. He’s young, mullet not quite at peak level yet, but he has already embraced his persona of a guy that just never stops moving forward and trying to hurt his opponent with blunt force. It’s a really cool dynamic as Hashimoto is such an artist with the way he uses his kicks. There is some really great use of basic strikes here. Hashimoto would just absolutely blast him with kicks right under the chin. Tenzan would look outgunned, but he could occasionally lunge forward and chop Hashimoto down with something because he’s still a dangerous animal.

Hashimoto brings some nice intricate stuff to the match, almost working like Regal has he goes to take out a leg with a slick drop toe hold, or doing this ridiculously great armbreaker from a sleeper hold. He is great at bringing a chess match feel even to a slugfest, some cool strategic feeling and mirroring like when Tenzan is able to catch him with a spin kick. He also had this great DDT/Kimura thing that spiked Tenzan right on his shoulder.

In the end, strategy can’t stop a charging bull. The audience can’t quite take Tenzan seriously as a challenger, but then he is able to drop Hashimoto with some rough as fuck bombs, including a powerbomb that looks like it could kill any regular man. Suddenly Hashimoto has a busted nose and looks in trouble and the crowd goes white hot. Hashimoto busts out this awesome sprawling armbar counter to Tenzan and nearly takes his head off with an absolute beauty of a high kick because that’s what Hashimoto does. Tenzan gets absolutely spiked on a brainbuster because that’s what it takes.

Verdict: Another absurdly great Hashimoto performance. Tenzan was pretty cool too although this would definitely be filed as Hashimotos work.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Shinya Hashimoto, NJPW 8/3/1997

They are in the semi finals of the 97 G1, so there is quite a bit of wear and tear on both mens bodies already. This was like watching two battleships launching missiles on each other until one would sink, the way Hashimoto would take Tenzans spin kick really sells that. Hashimoto was a freaking tank here, and the crowd by now had taken to a liking to Tenzan. The hissing noise really emphasizes his animalistic vibe, like you are entering a pit of snakes. Hashimoto was really kicking the shit out of Tenzan here, to the point where Tenzan would get a bloody mouth, while Tenzan kept chipping away including hitting Hash with a shoot headbutt. Hashs arm/shoulderbreaker was downright demonic. Chono ended up distracting the referee, proving shit like that already happened in 90s New Japan, but Tenzan ended up getting his foot stuck in the turnbuckle somehow when he went for his diving headbutt in what may have been the defining moment of the match with how silly and yet dramatic it was. Tenzan is able to soldier through though just based on his sheer toughness bombing Hashimoto into oblivion with diving headbutts.

Verdict: Hashimoto is still by far the cooler wrestler, though Tenzan gave a good fight completely lacking any finesse and getting by on sheer toughness.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Kensuke Sasaki, NJPW 8/3/1997

The finals of the tournament in the same night. Tenzan had just taken a monster beating, really looking like even just walking is painful, but fuck does he take to the fight to Sasaki. The way he just moved forward right away punching through the standard lock up and going right at Sasaki was awesome. This is like watching two caveman fighting, or Conan The Barbarian taking on some half bull half man creature, Tenzan was unrelenting and Sasaki would try to punch his hard head in. It’s simplistic but it’s molten hot and Tenzan almost kills Sasaki when he comes down with the diving headbutt. Not exactly Baba/Destroyer but delivers in spades if you want to watch two dumb try to smash each other into oblivion in a raw as fuck battle for less than 10 minutes.

Verdict: Tenzan has looked primitive next to Hashimoto, but compared to Sasaki he comes across almost like an artist.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Tatsumi Fujinami, NJPW 7/14/1998

In general, I have loved the 1998 Fujinami big singles match run, but I skipped over this match due to my resentments of Tenzan. Turns out it was a pretty fun match. Fujinami opens with a fast start, then pretty much toys with Tenzan who is not very technically adept. Tenzan is able to get by on toughness and start chipping away at Fujinami with his repetitive offense but also hits a pretty nice calf branding, but Fujinami would keep outclassing him. There were a few pretty nice moments, including Tenzan catching Fujinami in a surprise dragon screw of his own and hitting a diving headbutt to the leg. He even teased hitting a Dragon Suplex on Fujinami which was pretty outrageous. Fujinami kept slipping into chokes and by the end he had outclassed Tenzan again, even slapping him silly like he was disappointed in his poor performance. It was definitely a bit long and it could’ve been much better if either guy had decided to actually sell their leg but in the end the point was to show that sometimes a challenger can completely shit the bed in a big match.

Verdict: pretty effective Tenzan performance if you believe that his gimmick is that he’s a hapless simpleton with a lucky punchers chance.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Kensuke Sasaki, NJPW 2/15/2004

The first round of a 1 night tournament. We JIP like 2 minutes into a 1 night tournament and Tenzan is bleeding like crazy and Sasaki is just mauling him with nasty shots. What the fuck is going on here. Tenzan comes back and he is just beating the shit out of Sasaki and this is the just the grizzliest thing you’ve ever seen. Tenzan almost kills Sasaki with a scoop piledriver turned into an emerald fusion. I’ve no idea why Sasaki hated Tenzan this match but he keeps biting him and pulling him up and hitting him with insane lariats while Tenzan is losing so much fucking blood. So. Fucking. Bloody. Tenzan fights back hitting shoot headbutts and everything. Sasaki ends up getting distracted by Makabe like the idiot he is and Tenzan is able spike him with another tombstone for the 3 at about 10 minutes. What the hell was this. Visceral as fuck, would it have killed them to show the whole 10 minutes?

Verdict: if this was a match between Kamala and Tully Blanchard or something and even just slightly less violent it would probably be considered a legendary mega-classic. This was fucking sick. 

Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Yuji Nagata, NJPW 2/15/2004

The same night. Tenzan comes in with a big bandage on his head from the previous match. They lock up, and almost immediately the bandage comes off. They mat wrestle a bit, and the blood already starts flowing out of Tenzans face. It gets all over Nagata. Tenzan frustrates Nagata, until Nagata has enough and starts kicking him in his bloody face. Nagata may be no Hashimoto but he knew how to precisely kick somebody in his wound. Great drama here. Tenzan is able to survive with sheer toughness and angry shoot headbutting Nagata some. He’s able to mount a string of offense, until he’s finally able to land a moonsault which legit Kos Nagata and allows Tenzan to go to the final.

Verdict: Pretty great stuff here, no question about it. 

Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Genichiro Tenryu, NJPW 2/15/2004

The finals. What do you think happens in this match? Tenryu goes for the kill right away kicking Tenzan in the head with a rolling kick then circles him like a shark smelling blood, kicking and punching him in his bleeding face. Lord, has anyone ever lost as much blood in a single night as Tenzan did here? He looks like he’s lost enough blood to kill a person and Tenryu smacks him so hard the blood flies off. Tenzan survives some inhuman punishment and Tenryu making him eat shit on the floor with a northern lights bomb from the motherfucking apron. But Tenzan is inhumanly tough and the people keep hissing for the mongolian chop. Tenryu gets shoot headbutted and by sheer resilience Tenzan is able to outlast him and win the IWGP title. I can’t even hate the man for his limitations, he was an animal that night and won it all like a king.

Verdict: What can I say? Tenryu was amazing as usual. Tenzan was basically a bloodbag here but this kind of inhuman toughness deserves respect. This was as great a title win as you can imagine.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, NJPW 3/28/2004

Hey – this is a pretty great match! Of course it’s from the era of NJPW that nerds will tell you sucked but this actually ruled. It was pretty much in full bloom when it cames to mid 2000s blurred-lines pro wrestling meets MMA influence, with Nakamura being the submission artist and Tenzan a really good primitive blunt hitting monster. Nakamura tries to strike early with Tenzan – his knees look really good – but he gets met with Tenzan ramming his head into his face repeatedly. That headbutt to the jaw Tenzan landed may have been the greatest thing he ever did. He would also stomp on Nakamuras head pretty hard. Nakamura would try to choke him out and armbar him, and he had some really good submission entries. It turns into a Tenzan onslaught with Nakamura just trying to tap him out, but it’s really compelling, high end stuff. For this kind of pro wrestling meets PRIDE this was excellent.

Verdict:  Probably Tenzans single greatest performance that I've seen. Almost too refined for him, felt like match needed some blood and a cracked skull or something.

RIP Tadao Yasuda

 

Tadao Yasuda vs Tatsumi Fujinami, NJPW 8/13/1999

Great little sprint from the G1 Climax. I love how it immediately establishes the tone of the G1, everything matters. That is felt very strongly here just from the way Fujinami would move about the ring before locking up, really putting over Yasudas massive size and lumbering danger. They don’t waste a second in letting you know what they are all about, Yasuda rushing with sumo palm strikes, Fujinami always trying to grab a leg and twist it off. I love how Yasuda started pounding away whenever Fujinami tried for the dragon screw, and his own modified dragon screw ruled. Nifty finish. More pro wrestling should be like this.

Tadao Yasuda vs Kensuke Sasaki, NJPW 8/10/1999

Kensuke Sasaki in 1999, already a former IWGP champion. Tadao Yasuda, middle aged, late starter at wrestling, and rocking a sleazy mustache. But fuck all that, this match is all about Yasuda being an explosive surprise. Sasaki goes down for a Yasuda shoulderblock, proving Yasuda is indeed bigger and more massive, and then Yasuda proceeds to stomp a mudhole in him. Really dug Yasudas of the sumo palm strikes in this, even getting the better of Kensuke during a strike exchange, and of course the big one that he caught Sasaki right to the mush with. Sasaki looks really contemptful like he is pissed that this old sumo fart just gave him a beating. Even picking him up for a torture rack just to overcompensate. The crowd is all there rallying behind Yasuda for a possible upset and while it’s not anything deep it’s really fun big boy pro wrestling.

Tadao Yasuda vs Keiji Muto, NJPW 8/14/1999

More Yasuda G1 magic. Normally there is no way Yasuda stands a chance in hell against Muto, but it’s the G1, and Muto is super banged up and barely gets a thing going. This allows Yasuda to really give Muto a stomping further banging on his leg, with an enthusiastic crowd willing him all along the way. Yasudas facial expressions are so great, he’s like a man praying to god when he locks in those boston crabs, like he really wants that shit to work. Yasudas jumping elbow drop where it looks like a fridge was dropped on Mutohs leg is really great. I also love them teasing Yasuda losing in the same way he did to Fujinami earlier, and Mutoh does pull off a really really choice finish. Can’t ask for much more from a 5 minute match.

Tadao Yasuda vs Satoshi Kojima, NJPW 8/13/1999

The biggest match for Yasuda in this G1, because Kojima is about the one guy in his block that he has a chance of beating. As such the match is less about Yasuda the Underdog and more Yasuda standing tall and beating the dogshit out of Kojima with his awesome straight sumo palm thrusts, with Kojima selling in amazing fashion. Kojima had a bit more of a punk heel vibe here, snarling at the audience and trying to do damage to Yasudas limbs, which I think suits him very well. While the build of the match is not mind-blowing greatness it’s a lot of fun, serious pro wrestling enhanced by their eccentrics. Yasuda totally makes the second half of the match with his awesome selling and mannerisms, and the crowd gets behind him in a big way. Kojima slipping behind and struggling for a german suplex is a good example of why slowing down can sometimes make things a lot more epic. Kojima trying to damage Yasudas shoulder, with Yasuda trying to hang on and somehow get the win felt pretty epic, almost like a Hashimoto match. It made sense and paid off the story of the match. Loved Kojimas unique arm submission and his cluster attack at Yasudas shoulder felt like some of the best work he’s done, and Yasudas fire and trying to gut it out was just pro wrestling perfection, felt so raw and real. Yasuda brings such a fun vibe, while his Inokification was good stuff it would have been really interesting to see had he kept up what he was doing here into the 2000s.

Tadao Yasuda vs El Gigante, NJPW 5/1/1994

Not many match ups spark my interest anymore these days. But Tadao Yasuda vs El Gigante? Fuck yeah I’m watching Tadao Yasuda vs El Gigante. Yasuda is very at the beginning of his late blooming career. He has black trunks and lacks his signature mustache and looks a bit like an illegitimate son of Takashi Ishikawa and Osamu Kido. But boy he already has something to him. Enough that this massive crowd breaks out in a big ‘Yasuda’ chant to will him into taking on the Gigante, and popping big when Yasuda just goes into a sumo stance that the giant promptly mocks. Gigante looks comically huge – even next to the very large Yasuda. His build is just that of a fairytale giant. Not much happens here, but you get Yasuda sumo palm rushing Gigante to the crowds delight. Gigante takes some shoulder blocks from Yasuda – in a way that made me think he had no idea how to take shoulderblocks. Yasuda eye rakes to get on offense and goes for another sumo rush in the corner but Gigante stops him with a big boot and calls him a ‘fucking sumo’. The brain claw seals the deal. Guess they were really trying to do something with El Gigante here, but Yasudas triumph would come later.

Tadao Yasuda vs Tatsumi Fujinami, NJPW 2001/8/5

Yasuda lost miserably as an underdog just 2 years before, but now he got the Inoki power upgrade and is a dangerous shooter type, so the dynamic is completely reversed. Fujinami looks very aged but has grown out his curls to mid length just to flex on everyone with his hair genetics. Yasuda throws Fujinami and works him over with some pretty hard knees on the ground and pounding on his head with punches, but Fujinami can always hit a dragon screw and turn the tide. They even reference the finish from the 1999 match in a cool spot. Similiar affair as before but with vastly different roles and it’s cool.

Tadao Yasuda vs Kazunari Murakami, NJPW 2001/8/10

Inokiist dream match! Man these G1s just used to be packed with awesome matches. This is more about Murakami than Yasuda, though Yasuda makes for a cool elder tough guy to the rabid pitbull that is Murakami. Murakami may be the greatest ever at these evil glares and sudden violent explosions. It feels almost a bit like a Wahoo vs Johnny Valentine match. Murakami is so aggressive and unhinged that Yasuda becomes the underdog and has to try and surprise him with something, though I loved how he just threw Murakami over the guardrail.

Tadao Yasuda vs Yuji Nagata, NJPW 6/4/2001

By 2001 Inokiism was fully there, and they both have MMA gloves for this. Much like all your best Tadao Yasuda matches, this is short and sweet. It’s basically nearly full blown shootstyle. Yasuda is big and hard to takedown but tenacious Nagata manages to do it anyways. Nagata bitch slaps Yasuda in the ropes and this triggers an angry sumo rush and signature long legged stomping from Yasuda. However, the more energetic Nagata is able to suplex Yasuda on his neck and then quickly put him to pasture with a series of kicks. Impressive showing for Nagata.

Tadao Yasuda vs Manabu Nakanishi, NJPW 8/6/2001

Killer monster battle with a quick pace. Nakanishi is a total caveman here and he is mauling Yasuda with angry palm strikes and throwing him around. Yasuda can always catch someone with a punch though or choke them out. He is a bit of a weird guy to book as a submission artist but it kind of works. Early 2000s NJPW ‘anything can finish’ factor makes this really compelling and I loved the nifty details, such as the way Nakanishi would use a lariat to the leg to set up his stretch muffler, or hit a spear to Yasudas bad leg, as well as the finish.

Tadao Yasuda vs Yuji Nagata, NJPW 8/8/2001

Nagata is like a hyena here mauling a bigger lion. He’s just all over Yasuda, who is totally backed into a corner, as Nagata takes him apart with relentless takedowns, faster kicks, and trying to tear his arms out. All Yasuda can do is try and go for a choke and maybe punch Nagata in the face and hope for the best. Intense stuff that works mostly because you buy Yasuda could come back with just one submission. There are few wrestlers in wrestling history who had that kind of believability in a basic front choke or sleeper, and for Tadao Yasuda to be that guy is just incredible. Another intense little match and Nagata looked like a killer.

 

Tadao Yasuda & Shinya Hashimoto vs Tamon Honda & Masao Inoue, ZERO1 4/18/2001

 Awesome match. It's early Zero1 vs NOAH so we get heated interpromotional action filmed at glorious dutch angles. This was all action in the best way, just 4 guys constantly going at each other. The early Yasuda vs Honda match up is pretty great, just two big guys pummeling each other and trying to go for chokes, with Honda throwing the bigger man around, even hitting a sweet dead end later. Obviously Hashimoto is really great here and Inoue is great as an outmatched guy throwing everything he has at a monster in sheer desperation, these guys just did this match perfectly as Hashimoto ends up mauling Inoue into oblivion with Inoue unable to continue. Yasuda does look great in this kinda match and he does bust out the old sumo palm strike even with the gloves. It's a bit of a different side to him than the cowardly heel shooter stuff and he is quite suitable here.

2025 Matchguide Week 46

 
Yuji Nagata vs Shinya Aoki, DDT 10/14

A 30 MINUTE Yuji Nagata match in 2025?! I am too prone to morbid curiosity to not watch. The first 10 minutes of this was great as it was all matwork. It's probably been forever since Nagata grappled with anyone for longer than 5 minutes in a match. 2003 Nagata would've put up a good fight, but Aoki was mostly toying with him here. Aokis single-minded focus to put Nagatas shoulders to them was fascinating to watch and there was some really compelling grappling going on. I was ready for them to go completely sicko and just grapple for the whole duration, but alas, after 10 or 12 minutes they start to do some blatantly pointless 'brawling' on the floor. Aoki is great on the mat, but he is pretty bad at regular wrestling things like irish whipping someone or even looking like he is in a fight when Nagata is doing stuff to him on the floor. A lot of the time he just stands there and looks like he's just waiting for his opponent to do something. Back in the ring I get some hope back in the match as Aoki hits a really choice counter from Nagatas exploder into a sweet rolling chokehold. There are some more somewhat compelling moments of struggle down the stretch, but mostly they kill the rest of the 15 minutes with overly drawn out submissions - including a 5 minute figure four leg lock, and lots of Nagatas signature weak elbow exchanges. The worst was probably that Nagata just absorbed basically everything Aoki did, never really doing anything particularily interesting to get back at him. It was probably Nagatas best match in years still since he was forced to actually wrestle and not just coast with elbows and funny faces. But even for all the good stuff this brought I thought it could've been a heck of a lot better. And most importantly I want to see Aoki face someone who can match him on the mat.

Minoru Suzuki vs Yuki Ueno, DDT 11/3

A 34 MINUTE Minoru Suzuki match in 2025?! We are really going beyond the limits this week. In fairness, this is a really respectable performance from Suzuki and he's pretty much the reason why this is an entirely watchable match. From the very get go you could tell Suzuki was putting in the effort and trying to make this compelling all the way through. He was really fun here stretching Ueno like Fuchi, beating the snot out of him, and hitting cool Fujiwaraish counters. Ueno is... athletic and well that's about all that I can say about him. The match had a ton of legwork, and while Ueno was selling it almost all his offense involves jumping or leaping and running and all that. It seems everytime he makes a comeback it's just him popping up and hitting a move. What he does he hits well, but he puts in zero extra. He just hits his moves and that is maybe the worst sin a wrestler can commit in 2025 in my eyes. Especially when facing a freakshow like Suzuki. And the goofy finish just kinda underlines that. This was really well worked and had  good layout, but holy shit why are they making all these 60 year old wrestlers have 30 minute matches. This felt slower than something from the 1950s. I think there was like a 5 minute achilles hold or something. It's a bit of a shame because there's a genuinely great Minoru Suzuki performance here and it's wasted in a type of match that just feels like a chore to watch at this point. I loved everything Minoru Suzuki did here, the counters, the leg kicks, the viciousness in going for the sleeper. It's an A+ performance in a type of match that is just grating my nerves now.

Rico Fukunaga vs Chii Aoba, AWG 6/28
Their little feud has produced some good stuff, and this was more of that. The most important thing here is that this is an atypical match. Nothing here came across as cookie cutter, and that alone is really refereshing. Just give me two wrestlers with credible offense who look like they are trying their hardest to win. That was the case here. Right at the go, Aoba took Fukunaga down and latched really hard onto a leglock that forced Fukunaga to the ropes. Fukunaga in turn tried to go for an armbar that Aoba desperately resisted. Seconds later, Aoba avoided Fukunagas kicks and surprised Fukunaga with a really elegant judo throw. While their execution wasn't exactly UWF-level, just the fact they did something other than the stereotypical side headlocks and wristlocks that seem to begin every match now made me enjoy watching. Aoba is really small and skinny and she comes across as trying to prove herself as a wrestler and it's really respectable. Her holds are cool, she has the bridging full nelson which is awesome (and they really made that full nelson look like a struggle) and she also did this cool series of chancery takeovers, her basic powerslam was also perfectly timed. I've no idea how to quite classify her but she's cool. Fukunaga caught her with some pretty hard, credible kicks too. This was a good match that stood precisely because of what  I mentioned: not cookie cutter, both treating the match as really important, credible offense from both, clear story/hierarchy etc. It's not mindblowing greatness or anything but somehow it's way better than what other feds are putting out. Give me something like this over another trite 30 minute DDT main event slog every day.

MARU vs Kyoka Iwai, AWG 11/15

A hard as fuck brawl with both of them beating the hell out of each other with chairs, chains, a ladder and basically everything they could get their hands on. There were some creative spots without getting too cute, and even something a bit silly like the hits with the plastic bucket felt pretty mean and evil. It felt straight out of early 2000s JD and that is a very good thing to me. Execution was a bit slow here and there especially from Iwai but that aside this was a ton of fun. I really liked how whenever one of them turned her head too long the other would come and ambush her from behind. That is exactly what should happen in a crazy brawl. And there were some damn big bumps to top it off too. It could've just been the brawling/hardcore stuff and it would've been a really fun match, but then they really did this dramatic finishing run with MARU trying to smash Iwais legs to dust and Iwai doing some great desperation selling. Iwai needs a bit of work before she'll be a great wrestler but she brought it here, and MARU is quietly one of the best wrestlers on earth.

2025 Matchguide 

 

 

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.

2002 MOTY Project Update #22 - Yuji Nagata Edition

 Yuji Nagata vs. Kazuyuki Fujita, NJPW 10/14/2002

Great Inokiism style clash of the titans. Fujita has the gloves and you know what that means. Just the right mix of tense and a crazy fight. Nagata avoiding Fujita shooting in early and hammering him with knees was a great opening scramble. Fujita is a great freaky monster who will beat your fucking brains in, and Nagata may have had his finest moments ever in this match. He certainly had the crowd when he seemed done for and then made his big rally trying to kick Fujitas brain in. Real „kill or be killed“ feel to these kind of matches, and this was one heck of a Tokyo Dome main event in that style.

Yuji Nagata vs. Takayuki Iizuka, NJPW 12/23/2002

Really nice veteran match building to a Sleeper Hold. These two hitting the mat is surprisingly good, even knowing Nagata could be pretty good when he wasn‘t clowning around. I liked how they teased Iizuka working the legs but Nagata got the advantage back and Iizuka had to resort to locking in surprise sleepers. I love any kind of match that has an outmatched guy trying to pull off a miracle reversal and Iizuka was really good at his thing here, while Nagata makes a convincing ace.

 

Yuji  Nagata vs. Bas Rutten, NJPW 7/20/2002

Most intense 8 minute IWGP title match ever? Aside from his slightly awkward Shining Wizard, I thought Bas was really great here. Every single thing he did looked like it could plausibly end Nagata. Nagatas comebacks against Bas' onslaught were wonderful. It's tough to stay credible against a legit monster like Bas, but Nagata made me believe. Great stuff.

2002 MOTY List

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 Project Update #20

 

Yuji Nagata vs. Manabu Nakanishi, NJPW 2/1/2002

Surprisingly a really good match. It was all about Nagatas technique and precision vs. Nakanishis hulk strength. You forgot that Nagata can be a really good wrestler. I mean, this felt like a great midcard match rather than a great main event, but his wrestling skill is not to be denied here. Nagata shooting in an hitting a shoot exploder on an uncooperative Nakanishi was pretty great. Then, you get Nakanishi slowly falling apart while trying to shrug off Nagatas offense. They worked really stiff and Nakanishi is the kind of guy who‘s basic power moves feel like they will destroy you. Nagata desperately trying to avoid the Torture Rack was also really good, so was Nagata escaping only fro Nakanishi to judo throw him immediately. Nagata never came close to being another Hashimoto, but damn he tried the way he was braining Nakanishi with his kicks. Very NJPW-style match meaning it felt like it could end anytime due to the crossover with martial arts, and both guys real skill being a factor. No macho exchanges, just two guys trying to break eachother. I miss this kind of Japanese wrestling.

Command Bolshoi & GAMI vs. Azumi Hyuga & Ran Yu-Yu, JWP 4/14/2002

Bolshoi and GAMI make one hell of a team, and they had their working boots on here. Imagine how dull you have to be to not acknowledge the greatness of GAMI. The paper fan was used sparringly here, in funny ways, and later in the match it even felt pretty mean. The rest of this was chock full of highly intricate wrestling, just both Bolshoi and GAMI rolling out all their technical skill to be competitive with Hyuga and Ran. Just what these tricky, eccentric veterans do best. Ran and Hyuga are the workate queens of JWP and meant to be a higher rank, so Bolshoi and GAMI had to use all their ability. I really liked how Hyuga initially refused to tag out but her situation got increasingly desperate as GAMI and Bolshoi kept isolating and making dents in her. Then, she kind of botched a comeback move so Ran refused to let her tag out, as if she was saying „that was luck, go make a real comeback.“ The switch from GAMI and Bolshoi dominating to Hyuga and Yu-Yu standing tall and running over their opponents with their high end suplexes and strikes was really good and we got a fantastic ending run built around underdog GAMI and Bolshoi. Says a lot about how good two wrestlers are that they can rock two entirely different roles in the same match and make it believable and really good. Excellent match overall, very joshi flavoured, but it totally hit the right spots.

2002 MOTY Project Master List

GWE Watching #8: Yuji Nagata

 Yuji Nagata vs. Kazuyuki Fujita, NJPW 6/6/2001

This was quite great. They had the MMA gloves and did hybrid style match. It wasn't UWF 2.0 or a BattlARTS knockoff match, they did their own thing here. The match felt like it could end at any moment, and the heat was off the charts. They really use things like the struggle over a takedown or Fujita trying to get mount to full effect. They really made people believe Fujita was gonna crush Nagatas skull once he got to mount position. Nagata looked like quite the valiant fighter trying to not get his head caved in by this beast. And well, then Fujita pretty much just smashed him. They never should have ditched the gloves.

Minoru Suzuki vs. Yuji Nagata, NJPW 11/3/2003

I am so used to seeing these two guys do a bunch of love tapping while making goofy faces that I was caught off guard by this being a no frills contest. Suzuki was projecting the aura of a killer at this time, and there was some really good grappling in this. He reminded me a bit of Negro Casas and that is huge praise. Nagata was a surely company ace here. Suzuki putting a random sleeper on Nagata and Nagata selling it like death created huge drama. Then you had Nagata catching Suzuki with a suplex and just trying to crush his shoulder with kicks. Suzukis selling actually was the right mix between being in serious pain and putting on his psycho act. Really good ending to an intense match.

Yuji Nagata vs. Enson Inoue, NJPW 7/21/2003

For some reason, I find Nagata tangling with some semitrained crowbar more entertaining than him dealing with his dojo mates. Enson was swinging wild punches here and trying to knock Nagatas block off. Nagata mostly used grappling to defend himself and looked solid. Then he nailed Inoue with a big suplex and that as it. Solid showing from Nagata, although he kinda needed to unleash a bigger asskicking to look truelybadass in a Hashimoto way against the fighter.

Yuji Nagata vs. Katsuyori Shibata, NJP 8/14/2003

Shibata is all punk here, throwing flurries of strikes and his gloves at Nagatas face. Nagata does a lot of grappling in these matches. I've really noticed it before, but I guess they were pushing his strength as a grappler since he had submission finishers and all. This was Shibata acting like a fucker and Nagata punishing him with some nasty face grinding and hard smacks. Nagata putting the boot down is no frills, mean and effective. Shibata looked like the more exciting wrestler, even as he got the snot beaten out of him. Unfortunately, the crowd was dead silent for Shibatas offense. Finish was fun with Stone Cold Nagata taking a chair to Yasuda.