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

Random Lucha

 

Skayde & Torero vs. Colt & Aspid, Promo Azteca 2/28/1997

Opening matwork between Skayde and Colt was like the lucha equivalent of a high end U-Style match up. Really beautiful but also competitive stuff. Notable how good a random indy luchador like Colt was in 1997. Toreros sections were supposed to add some spice to the match, and his wrestling was fun too. He kept taking his boot off to hit the rudos with, while lizardman Aspid played the fool. The hold he won the first fall with was really cool. The match kept being played like that, Torero doing shtick and Skayde working high end workrate exchanges. Their team work was really cool and something you don‘t see a lot from technico teams. Good stuff and just the first 3 minutes of this are must watch.

 

El Dandy & Hector Garza & Shocker vs. Shu El Guerrero & Felino & Kahoz, CMLL 9/8/1995

CMLL once again throws 6 guys into a match and you get something really good. Shu vs. El Dandy is such a cool match up, and they really stretch out and do a lot together here. They start with a lengthy mat section which was so cool, Dandy allowed to Shu to look beastly, with Shu hitting aggressive takedowns and locking in cool holds on him. Dandy tried to pick at the best by attacking his arms and legs, building to a really nice arm lift spot. Felino/Garza was also so good, man I love Felino as he will just grapple and throw the fuck out of a guy. Garza was this athletic young stud but Felino pretty much overwhelmed him and it was intense stuff. The next good match up in this was Shocker/Kahoz, who apparently had a feud going. Shocker forearmed Kahoz hard as he was standing on the aprom which is totally enough to get me into the match up. Later we get Kahoz working quite mean, hitting some snug clotheslines and kick and even tearing Shockers mask violently. I really liked how Dandy and Garza had to use double teams to use the first fall (earning them some boos since that‘s rudo stuff). The rudo beatdown transitions into everyone working frantic 1 vs. 1 exchanges was also really good and the technicos still being at a disadvantage was a nice touch, as the rudos were quite ruthless hitting gnarly powerbombs on that unforgiving mexican ring mat.. Dandy hit this great desperation tope over the 3rd rope and his partner tried to pull out a win but failed. Sometimes technicos can‘t succeed and this case the rudos were just a bit too vicious.

Masamune Produce Murasaki Hige Dokugan 3 6/19/2022

 Kagura vs. CHANGO

Started as a really solid undercard lucharesu match. Apparently Kagura is Taro Yamada, who's really good on the mat and can do athletic stuff, and CHANGO is a trickier worker than you expect from someone who works the lowest tier indy undercards. Really liked how Chango reversed a bodyslam attempt into a cool llave, and his 619 over the rope was another cool spot that a more famous indy wrestler could steal for a potentially viral GIF. However Chango does two comedy spots, one where he entangles Kagura in the ring apron, and one where he undoes ALL the turnbuckle pads and wraps them around his fist. Both took forever and took me out of the match. They also kept doing ref bumps and such bullshit spots which is a bit much for an opener. Aside from that you had a pretty good match here.

Gabai Ji-Chan vs. Pretty Ota

More old man comedy. Lots of walking cane jokes, apparently the cane is cursed or something and whoever holds it has to walk around like an old man. Gabai Ji-Chan ends up breaking the cane in a moment that feels like it should bury the gimmick, but I'm sure he will be back on the next z-tier indy undercard to repeat the same jokes soon enough.

Keita Yano & Takafumi Ito vs. MASAMUNE & Harutoki - FUN

 Nice thrown together match. Apparently Masamune is a Jiraya trainee which explains his adeptness at both llave and shootstyle matwork. He meshes extremely well with Keita and Ito, and the second exchange between Ito and him where they went all out was really good shit. It was all submission work, and then suddenly Ito ate a fucking Regalplex out of nowhere. Harutoki isn't terribly interesting, he needs to learn some llaves, and he doesn't have great execution, so the finish between him and Keita was really solid. Keita looked good as usual doing his weird stuff, I really liked how he broke out of a pin by raking the eyes. The finish with Keita doing a bunch of Negro Navarro stuff into a super tight chickenwing crossface was awesome. This was FUN as far as Keita performances go, but the Masamune vs. Takafumi Ito stuff here was money.

GENTARO vs. Kenichiro Arai

Slow, deliberate 70s style grappling match that really explores working holds and breaking out of them to the maximum. It‘s an aquired taste, but really good for what it was. Gentaro when in a technical match always looks like one of the greatest grapplers on earth. Arai looked comfortable rolling with him too. They kept doing these intense struggles over basic holds and most importantly, they absolutely sold their butts off. Something like a bow & arrow, or a double axe handle felt epic. The last 5 minutes was Arai just desperately trying to hang on with Gentaro busting out cool, unexpected finish attempts. It's a shame GENTARO rarely gets booked into matches like this because he's looks world class in them.

The Library

Keita Yano Documentation Project #2

Keita Yano vs. Yujiro Yamamoto, BattlARTS 6/1/2008 - GREAT

This was Yamamotos debut. You can be really good at shootstyle right out of the gate, and Yamamoto is really good. This was a mix of slick matwork and both guys waffling each other with uncalled for hits which is kind of the best kind of Young Lions match. Really enjoyed Yanos lithe grappling style as opposed to his later work where he‘s a bit slower. The fun starts when Yamamoto absolutely rattles Yano with a slap in the corner and Yano tries cracking his jaw with knees and a huge european uppercut. Yano busted out a cool Tequila Sunrise into a rad bridging double armlock for a cool nearfall where it looked like Yamamoto almost got his shoulder popped. Actual finish was nasty too. Good shit that was tougher and more intense than a lot of veteran matches.

 

Keita Yano vs. Great Zako, Unemployment Pro 10/21/2018 - EPIC

This takes place in Survival Tobitas Unemployment Pro, which is wrestling shows run on a thin puzzle mat in a storage unit, or someones apartment, or… I have no idea. Yano is doing the „Masked Holiday“ gimmick which is him in a Super Muneco mask and a Doink singlet, which is like a wrestler you‘d see having a match in one of the rooms of the Overlook Hotel. This match was raw pro wrestling insanity, like if you crossed Atlantis/Villano III with the chair wrestling scene from Gummo. Zako is a skinny self-described backyarder in a shirt, and the opening is just Yano torturing him with unorthodox llaves. Zako ends up going face first into the concrete wall and comes up bleeding so Yano works over his cut with punches and nasty foot rakes.Yano keeps putting on llaves like the reverse gory special which is so surreal until Zako who is hopelessly outmatched is able to low blow him. Zako proceeds to rip his mask and bloody him and bring in a bunch of weapons like metal plates and a rope. The strangulation neckbreaker with the rope was really sick. It builds to this absolutely insane ending run where both guys end up shoot punching each other and leaving their blood all over this little cell. Zako was pretty good, he hit this crazy off the wall spinning senton, and his crushed throat selling after Yano uppercutted him in the throat was convincing. The shoot suplex on the ultra thin mat was downright sick, too. Whole match had pretty much everything, gore, mask ripping, submission work, and both guys looked like they were fighting to the death. Pro wrestling in it‘s rawest form.

Keita Yano Documentation Project

STYLE-E Summer E Impact in West Chofu 7/22/2007

 Watch

 Masashi Takeda vs. Naoki Matsumoto

Nice to see Pro Wrestling DREAMERS boy Matsumoto show up. This was a nice match between two guy with amateur backgrounds. It was a pro-style match but they both displayed some swift amateur movements, like very high level on the basic go behinds on the mat etc. At one point Takeda has a really nice shot underneath for the ankle hold. Matsumoto did a solid job working Takedas arm and he's a really nifty worker in general. I really liked how when Matsumoto got entangled in the loose ropes Takeda immediately went for the kill by hitting a spear. Nice opening match.

Keita Yano & Chojin Yusha G Valion vs. Yuta Yoshikawa & Tomohiko Hashimoto - GREAT

 Valion and Hashimoto weren't much in this match, but they didn't stink it up either. Whenever Yano and Yoshikawa faced off it was nice, scrappy BattlARTS style action with both guys really peppering each other with kicks and open hands. Hashimoto is a slug but at least he hit hard when it was time to put a beatdown on Yano. Yano bumped big and ate some good punishment, he had a really pretty dropkick too. Thankfully, the finish was Yano vs. Yoshikawa again and it was really good pushing this into GREAT territory as Yano busted out cool STOs and his awesome bridging choke submission. Really nice stuff and didn't overstay its welcome.

Kyosuke Sasaki vs. Masanori Ishikura

Nice to see Ishikura getting a showcase match. This started with some really nice slick U-Style grappling before Sasaki upped the asshole moves and started grinding Ishikuras face. Ishikura fired back in style hitting a big dropkick followed by a massive dive over the top to the floor. After that the match was more on the pro style side but it ended up being really good action full of hard fought submission attempts. Ishikura certainly looked like he could kick and grapple with the best of them, and him busting out stuff like a Kido Clutch was really cool. Crafty finish where Sasaki is able to lock in an achilles hold, Ishikura looks in pain and tries to kick his way out only for Sasaki to turn it into a heel hook and tap him. Really enjoyed this one.

Kazuhiro Tamura & Masato Shibata vs. Kabuki Kid & Chon Shiryu & Bungee Takada

That heel trio is scummy as hell. But, because they worked a good structure with the heels working rudo tactics and building to hot tags, the match ended up working. Shiryu was by far the standout and looked great. When the two goons immediately started brawling with the faces he just stood in the ring and kept smiling and waving his flag like a prick. Then he hit this awesome flying kick to the floor. His kicks and kung fu spots are so cool and were a consistent highlight throughout the match. Kabuki Kid can hit a decent uppercut and thrust kick so that's all I need to be happy. Bungee Takada ain't much good but he manages to not stink up the match. Both Tamura and Shibata got hot tags, I really liked Tamura who's really quick and sharp at this point. Shibata is a tubby guy in a yellow singlet that says SHIBATA TIME and he just squishes people with his blubber. Shibata ends up turning against Tamura though giving the rudos an easy win. At least the fake Kabuki sprayed Tamura with some mist to make it memorable. Still, Shiryus performance here was insanely cool to check out, and the match was well worked.

The Library

Koki Kitahara Documentation Project #15

 Koki Kitahara vs. Akira Katayama, SWS 10/29/1991 - GREAT

Classic gritty SWS undercard action. Katayama rushes Kitahara to start, hitting a big tope where he connects his head to Kitaharas face and then goes to choke Kitahara with his shirt. Kitahara makes him pay dearly though. Every thing Kitahara executes on Katayama here looks like it was intended to murder. Katayama is a bit pedestrian but Kitahara kicks him in the mouth causing him to gush blood and bring some fight. Unbelievably gritty shit. The junior stuff was well executed too, but you want this for that kick and the visual of Katayamas bloody teeth.

 

Koki Kitahara & Yoshihiro Asai vs. Masao Orihara & Bestia Salvaje, SWS 10/30/1991 - GREAT

Basically 2 great pairings doing their thing. Salvaje was great here carrying Asai like mad and working some beautiful exchanges, and then you had young Kitahara and Orihara engaging in some super violent, scrappy exchanges. Orihara was almost unrecognizable and kickpadded here, aside from one nifty kip up he works like a crazy kickboxer trying to match Kitahara blistering him with kicks. The match escalated when Orihara walked over and kicked Kitahara in the face causing Kitahara in turn to almost crush Oriharas skull and spit on him. Just the kind of uncalled for violence only Kitahara can bring to a random junior undercard pairing. I also enjoyed Asai briefly putting a beating on Orihara. Orihara in turn totally smoke Asai with a massive moonsault to the outside. And man Salvaje looks tremendous here. Wrestling can be so simply and brilliant sometimes.

 

Koki Kitahara & Mitsuya Nagai vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Super Tiger 2, Fortune Dream 6/11/2018 - FUN

The non-Kitahara guys in this match are quite pedestrian, but Kitahara single handedly makes this a fun match. He's quite old and not as thick as in his prime anymore, but still a formidable bastard. He kicks people in the face and acts like a bastard. He even busts out a Shiranui to psych out Marufuji. All the Kitahara/Tiger exchanges were genuinely cool wrestling too and I wish we had some old man Kitahara in CAPTURE. He still hit that sweep kick with near perfect timing.

Koki Kitahara Documentation Project

Thoughts on 30 minutes of Volk Han vs. Zaza Grom

 

Volk Han vs. Zaza Grom, RINGS 6/24/1999

Opening 20 minutes of this or so were fantastic and some of the greatest shootstyle grappling I‘ve ever seen. You know Grom is a badass when he is like 35 here and as grey as a caesar. This is all about Groms ability to takedown Han at will and Han trying to counter that. Naturally Han is really great at creating incredible counters, but Zaza is also really great at creating incredible counters to those counters. It starts like the usual Han deal, with Han getting a rope break in the first minute. Then Han loses another point on a break and one on a technicality, and it seems like no big deal, but Zaza keeps racking up points. Suddenly Han is with his back against the wall, and then he eats a vicious shotai and he‘s out of points. I really wanted the last 5 minutes to be more epic considering how great they had built it up but sometimes you just gotta ride it out. Incredible showing from Grom regardless, and another piece of untouchable Han work.