3/23 Miyagi Zepp Sendai: Sambo Oishi vs. Teppei Ishikata. Counters on the mat. They weren't exactly Owen Hart level arm bar counters, but it was a lot more passable than the usual stuff inexperienced guys do. Oishi attacked the knee, already showing a more diverse arsenal than Muto has. Solid. 8:21 of 8:39. *3/4
3/21 K-DOJO: Yasu Urano vs. Kengo Mashimo. Good little match. Real short with no build, but they did what they could and got out rather than looking bad because they were stuck filling time. Mashimo is a worked shoot type while Urano is a Luchador, but Urano was able to hold court in Mashimo's style and find openings to sneak in some of his own. The matwork was pretty good because they kept moving and struggling. There was some hesitation, but these two, though certainly moreso Urano, are the quick athletic type that already do stuff impressively simply on their physical attributes. 6:54. **
3/21 K-DOJO: Daigoro Kashiwa vs. Hi69. Hi looked good on occassion when he made a fast move. For the most part though it was real basic and just plodded along. The match was boring, which is usually the case when you have a headbutt specialist like Kashiwa, but mainly failed because they didn't work well together. 10:00. *
2/24/02 Tokyo Nippon Budokan Triple Threat Match: Gran Naniwa vs. Hi69 vs. Yasu Urano. Lots of backfires and doublecrosses, but the rest of the time one guy would loaf around while the other two wrestled. It started out as a comedy match with the vicious submission circle where one guy would be released when the free guy applied a submission to the guy that was in control, so he would apply a submission to the guy that just caused him to be freed. After 5 minutes they went to the spots, which is where Naniwa went from leader to left behind. 6:54. *1/2
Two Hi69 handheld tag matches from IWA Puerto Rico with no names, dates, or ring entrances. Pablo Marquez is one of the opponents in the first. 5:40 and 5:08
Kunio Toshima vs. Teppei Ishizaka. Basic but well executed match with good impact and stiffness. They had a lot of energy and wrestled with fire and enthusiasm. 6:10. **
Ofune vs. Apple Miyuki. Wrestling was fine, but too much outside interference. 5:40. *
Yoshiya & Mike Lee, Jr. vs. Double X. Goofy match with uninteresting wrestling. 6:59. *
Handicap Man & Woman Mixed Tag Match: Psycho vs. Apple Miyuki & Chikaimajiyoru & DJ Nira. Psycho has Kimala-esque entrance music, but he's skinny and has great ups. 1:43
Kengo Mashimo vs. Sambo Dishi. Good stiff Battlarts type match. Kengo is a good chopper. Short, but Kengo looks like he'll be the real deal and Dishi has skills too. 6:35. **
Man & Woman Mixed Tag Match: Hi69 & Pablo & RYOKO vs. Yasu Urano & Daigoro Kashiwa & Silver Wolf. Silver Wolf's mask is a Tiger Mask variation. He's quick and athletic and was a lot of fun. Urano seems more of a solid but unspectacular Satoru Asako type. RYOKO was out of her depth and more a distraction than anything else. Some great moves and a lot of good ones, but they often showed their inexperience. 9:39. **1/2
Minoru Fujita & Miyawaki vs. Ryota Chikuzen & Joe Aoyama. More brawling and basic spots than I figured on. Fujita just did a smoother more polished version of what the younger guys were doing. Good moves down the stretch, but the match was much too long for what they had to offer and it took 17 minutes to get to that. Fujita's BONEYARD finisher is basically a crossface combined with pulling back the opponent's toe. 18:30. **
Kunio Toshima vs. Teppei Ishizaka
MS: They had a very nice and unique set-up for this show with video screens
and a ramp that made this seem like a different building than Korakuen Hall.
The match itself was pretty basic stuff with most of what aired (about 70%)
consisting of Ishikawa working over Toshima’s arm. However, Toshima
rallied to win with a good looking release backdrop suplex. 4:33 of 7:44.
Ofune vs. Ayako Hamada
MS: Ofune has a pretty cool look and entrance, but not much in the way of
ability to go with it. Ayako, who’s always been helacool (even in CAZAI),
further endeared herself to me by highlighting some of her hair with the
colors of my beloved Colorado Avalanche. She was also generous with Ofune
here by giving her a good amount of offense and selling OK for her as well.
The two problems with the match however were that Ofune doesn’t have
enough offense to put someone with Ayako’s stature in much peril and
her execution left a little to be desired as well. The other thing that held
it down was Ayako not using a lot of her usual set and somwhat dumbing down
her offense to keep Ofune competitive. Ayako did get fairly stiff as the
match went on (but not in a malicious way) including a strong enzugiri that
led to a Ligerbomb for the win. 11:25. *3/4
Kengo Mashimo vs. Isami Kodaka
MS: Not being a huge fan of shoot fighting or worked shoots I didn’t
expect to like this, but despite a slow start Mashimo was so dominant over
the last half of the match that he won me over. They weren’t tremendously
convincing in conveying a shoot, but Mashimo unloaded some serious kicks
and knee lifts towards the end that eventually rendered Kodaka helpless (but
conscious). The final sequence really made the match pretty exciting for
a few moments and turned a potentially pretty bad match into a decent one.
4:42. **
9 Person Surround Force Match: DJ Nira vs. Sambo Dishi vs. Yu Yamagata vs.
Yasu Urano vs. Psycho vs. Mike Lee, Jr. vs. Shoiri Asahi vs. Joe Aoyama vs.
Apple Miyuki
MS: This was under WCW and WWE rules where one pin or submission would decide
the match instead of one survivor doing so. 9 people going about 6-1/2 minutes
was way too much, so this was more a collection of non-flowing spots than
anything else but there were two noticeable storylines throughout. The main
focus was on how everyone wanted at DJ Nira, but he kept managing to escape.
The sub-plot was a very impressive Apple Miyuki being light years better
than I’ve ever seen her look in Jd’. She rolled out some sweet
spots and had to deal with everybody working overly stiff with her. Not being
one that likes to see women vs. men at all this made me wonder how much insecurity
TAKA has about women and how much of that he picked up in McMahonland. But
had she won the match it might’ve been worth it in the end. After she
finally tagged out it became everybody for themselves again except Yamagata
and Dishi, who worked as a team throughout including the finish where Dishi
caught Aoyama with a knee bar (according to the graphic during the replay
this it what it's called) while Yamagata cut-off anyone else from stopping
it. Based on what the match wound up like it may’ve been far better
had they just done Miyuki & Psycho vs. Yamagata & Dishi as they were
the only four who looked good at all. 6:27. *1/4
Mr. X 1 & 2 vs. Mr. X 3 & 5
MS: The low X’s wore black hoods and the highs wore white masks which
was the only way to tell the teams apart. Even though they don’t do
the old Killer Bee’s switch gimmick, they don’t have numbers on
their tights or boots so it’s impossible to tell the teammates apart
being that they are all about the same size. Anyway, this was a pretty lackluster
match with the only notable spot being a double torture rack by the guys
that equal 8. This was also the only match on the show that had no heat whatsoever.
Thanks to the ring announcer we found out that 2 pinned either 3 or 5 after
a couple of running forearms to the back of the loser’s head. After
the match, the whole X clan reunited and raised hands while back in Nashville
Vince Russo sadly lamented about how nobody accepts his X family. 9:17. *1/2
2/3 Falls: Minoru Fujita & Miyawaki & Daigoro Kashiwa & Silver
Wolf & Shinya Makabe vs. TAKA Michinoku & Yoshiya & Ryota Chikuzen
& Hi69 & Pablo
MS: The first fall was only about a minute long. Following a brief exchange
between Fujita and Taka everyone bailed to the floor so that Makabe (who
got a fairly big “surprise” pop and who’s back has more pimples
than DJ Nira AND a 9th grade class combined) could catch Chikuzen in a triangle
choke for the quick tap. The second fall was figuratively and literally the
main body of the match, and had some good but unspectacular back-and-forth
action. TAKA and Fujita let the younger guys carry this fall, but nobody
really distinguished themselves here. However, this section did let us know
that they all have a people’s elblow inspired spot and most of them
look basically the same. Finish saw Yoshiya catch Wolf with the big boot
for the 3. Things really picked up for the deciding fall as the highspots
came rolling out, culminating with TAKA’s patented slingshot moonsault
to the floor. Fujita teased a dive as well, but was cut-off by a nice tornado
DDT by RYOKO. After Minoru managed to avoid Taka for most of the match following
the open, the two controlled most of this segment which was hot throughout.
It finally wound down to Fujita and Makabe punking Taka leading to one of
the weaker Michinoku driver II’s ever (called a Fujita driver by the
graphic) by Fujita on it’s inventer for the win. 18:03. **1/2
Teppei Ishizaka vs. Shiori Asahi
Mixed Gender Tag Match: PSYCHO & Ofune & Tsubo Genjin vs. DJ Nira & Mike Lee Jr. & Apple Miyuki
Mixed Gender Tag Match: Daigoro Kashiwa & Tsubasa Kuragaki vs. Sambo Oishi & Yu Yamagata
Mr X # 1, 2, & 3 vs. Hi69 & Macho Pump & Kunio Toshima
TAKA Michinoku & Minoru Fujita & MIYAWAKI vs. Yasu Urano & YOSHIYA & Ryota Chikuzen
2/15/03 Chiba, UWA Middleweight Title Match: Hi69 vs. X #3
2/23 Chiba highlights
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Kengo Mashimo
Teppei Ishizaka & Joe Aoyama vs. Hi69 & Sambo Oishi
Tsubasa Kuragaki vs. Yu Yamagata
Silver Wolf vs. X #3
PSYCHO & Ofune & X #5 vs. DJ Nira & Apple Miyuki & Shiori Asahi
TAKA Michinoku & Daigoro Kashiwa & MIYAWAKI vs. YOSHIYA & Kengo Mashimo & Mike Lee Jr.
tag tournament digest
UWA UWF International Tag Title Match: Mr. X & X #2 vs. Kunio Toshima & Yasu Urano
Minoru Fujita vs. Ryota Chikuzen
highlights from the May 2003 tour
5/4 Sambo Oishi vs. Yu Yamagata 5:11
5/11 highlights
5/17 Dick Togo & Ikuto Hidaka vs. Miyawaki & Daigoro Kashiwa 3:02 of 15:32
5/24:
Kengo Mashimo, Joe Aoyama, & Kunio Toshima vs. Mr. X, X No. 2, & X No. 3 2:02 of 8:18
DJ Nira vs. Cowboy Biri 2:10 of 6:29
Hardcore Kid Kojiro vs. Psycho 2:29 of 7:47
Apple Miyuki vs. Ofune 5:36 of 8:56
UWA Middleweight Championship Match: Yasu Urano vs. Hi69(c) 15:05 of 20:19
3 way tag: Taka Michinoku & Kazma vs. Ryota Chikuzen & Yoshiya vs. Miyawaki & Daigoro Kashiwa 16:41
Mixed Gender Tag Match: Saburo Inematsu & Yu Yamagata vs. Daigoro Kashiwa & Teppei Ishizaka
Ryota Chikuzen & Kunio Toshima vs. Taku Joetsu & Yusaku Obata
Mixed Gender Tag Match: Apple Miyuki & YOSHIYA & PSYCHO vs. Michael Iwasa & Daniel Mishima & Jackson Florida
STRONGEST-K Tag Title Match: Kengo Mashimo & KAZMA vs. Makoto Oishi & Shiori Asahi
Open the Triangle Gate Title Match: CIMA & Magnitude Kishiwada & Masato Yoshino vs. Hi69 & SUPER-X & Yuji Hino
STRONGEST-K, AJ World Junior. & Tohoku Junior Triple Title Match: TAKA Michinoku vs. Masaaki Mochizuki
Note: full match times provided, but 1st 7 matches digested
1/3/06
DJ Nira vs Murakami Kazunari 2:20
Mariko Yoshida vs. Bambi 13:56
Mori Bernard & Antonio Honda& Francesca Appolina vs. KAZMA & Kengo Mashimo & Ryota Chikuzen 13:14
Kikutarosan (Ebessan) & Lingerie Muto vs. Hi69 & MIYAWAKI 12:56
Mixed Gender Match: "brother" YASSHI & Shuji Kondo & TARU vs. SUPER-X & Yuji Hino & Yu Yamagata 15:58
TAKA Michinoku & Makoto Oishi & Shiori Asahi & Yusaku Obata vs. JOE & Yasu Urano & Mike Lee Jr. & Mr. X 23:47
1/6/06 CLUB-K SUPER kick
Kamikaze Match: Boso Boy Raito vs. DJ Nira 0:21 then Teppei Ishizaka 1:19 then Daigoro Kashiwa 3:16
Mixed Gender 3 Way Elimination Match: Hi69 & MIYAWAKI & Hajimi Ishikawa vs. Yasu Urano & Mike Lee Jr. & Mr.X vs. SUPER-X & Yuji Hino & Yu Yamagata 16:55
YOSHIYA & Apple Miyuki & Shiori Asahi & Makoto Oishi vs. KAZMA & Kengo Mashimo & Kunio Toshima & Ryota Chikuzen 20:55
CHAMPION OF STRONGEST-K Title Match: TAKA Michinoku vs. J-O-E "The Handsome" JOE 31:31
Madoka & Boso Boy Raito & Yu Yamagata vs. Yuji Hino & Shiori Asahi & Bambi 5:13 of 8:00
Saburo Inematsu & PSYCHO vs. YOSHIYA & Kaji Yamato 2:19 of 7:16
CHAMPION OF STRONGEST-K Title Contendership: KAZMA vs. Mr. X 4:20 of 9:11
Independent Jr. Heavyweight Title & UWA Middleweight Title: MEN's Teio (Indy Jr Champ) vs. Makoto Oishi (UWA Champ) 16:05 of 20:09
STRONGEST-K Tag Team Title: TAKA Michinoku & JOE vs. Kunio Toshima & Daigoro Kashiwa 9:12 of 20:42
CHAMPION OF STRONGEST-K Title Match: Kengo Mashimo vs. Masaaki Mochizuki 18:34 of 18:54. These guys fought similarly using kicks, knee submissions, and suplexes, but veteran Mochizuki did it a lot better. Mochizuki is simply faster and a lot more aggressive and intense. Mashimo held his own though, seeming a step behind but always fighting his way back. Mochizuki charged at Mashimo from bell to bell, using his kicks and moves such as the kneecrusher off the 2nd to set up his knee submissions. Mashimo tried to avoid it, but even leaping over a knee kick and firing back with a right middle kick and left enzuigiri resulted in both being caught and Mochizuki turning into an ankle lock. Mashimo decided to give Mochizuki some of his own medicine, and began launching his own knee attack. Mochizuki stopped a kneecrusher with a wicked knee to the jaw, but Mashimo began making progress as he scored with his own kicks and suplexes and eventually did enough that it was acceptable for him to retain. ***1/4
Kunio Toshima & Ryuichi Sekine & Tadanobu Fujisawa vs. Boso Boy Raito & Hardcore Kid Kojiro & Yu Yamagata 1:52 of 4:36
Yuji Hino & Saburo Inematsu & Bambi vs. Taishi Takizawa & Hiro Tonai & Randy Takuya 6:53 of 12:20
WEW Hardcore Tag Team Title 3 Way Match: Brahman Shu & Brahman Kei vs. JOE & Quiet Storm vs. Daigoro Kashiwa & PSYCHO 11:40 of 15:06
YOSHIYA & GENTARO vs. Shiori Asahi & Naoki Tanizaki 8:59 of 19:30
Minoru Suzuki & NOSAWA Rongai & MAZADA vs. Kengo Mashimo & KAZMA & Kaji Yamato 17:32 of 22:18
CHAMPION OF STRONGEST-K Title Match: TAKA Michinoku vs. The Great Sasuke 22:52. The match is notable for being longtime indy lucha ref Ted Tanabe's last big match before his tragic passing from a heart attack. As Michinoku's ref during the promotions heyday, Tanabe may have reffed every Sasuke vs. TAKA match. This wasn't their best, but they took the match seriously, and did what they could to make it hold up against the matches from their prime. They aren't as athletic as they used to be, but they still tried to more or less do their mid 90's match. Sasuke was able to do a better job of that than TAKA, as even though he's heavier and not as graceful, his knees are more functional and he can more or less still do the highspots he did 15 years ago. He pulled a senton atomico onto the apron, a tope con hilo, and so on. TAKA did a super quebrada, but otherwise wasn't that reminiscent of his Michinoku Pro version. For me, the fault in the match is they didn't have him go in other directions, as he's normally more effective than this in a big match because he knows his limitations and has adjusted his style to work around them. They traded knee work early, but from there it was big moves. Perhaps it would have been better if TAKA focused more on his punkish side and used holds to keep injuring the knee, threatening to make Sasuke unable to fly, but of course Sasuke would still come back with his aerial moves? It was a good match in any case, and I'm not sure in 2009 there was any way it to be the match we are used to from them, which actually tended to underachieve because the submissions dragged and weren't really integrated with the flying. Even though Sasuke won most of their singles matches, I didn't really feel like he was going to win this, but it was definitely more than a nostalgia match. ***
Boso Boy Raito & Hardcore Kid Kojiro & Miyako Man vs. JOE & Kunio Toshima & Randy Takuya 2:30 of 6:29
Taj Mahal Presents 500,000 Yen Tag Team Royal Rumble: KAZMA & Kaji Yamato vs. Yuji Hino & Saburo Inematsu vs. Taishi Takizawa & Hiro Tonai vs. NOSAWA Rongai & MAZADA vs. Yu Yamagata & Ryuichi Sekine vs. MIYAWAKI & Ryan Taylor vs. Marlins Mask & Mobara Star Festival 7 vs. Yasu Urano & Gota Ihashi 12:38 of 13:53
UWA Middleweight Title Match: Quiet Storm vs. PSYCHO 10:20 of 14:51. PSYCHO is an interesting wrestler because he puts his own twist on everything. He's super athletic, and pretty much takes an existing spot and adds a spin, twist, or forward flip at the beginning to make it his own. He's extremely flexible and has a lot of flair. Storm, on the other hand, is vanilla as they come. A mechanical power wrestler who does standard moves in a below average fashion. And is there anything lamer than yelling your name before doing a big bad elbow drop? PSYCHO did enough interesting things to make it worthwhile, but it didn't come off as a big match, largely because Storm is so bland and ordinary. **1/4
Minoru Suzuki vs. Kengo Mashimo 15:51 of 22:13
CHAMPION OF STRONGEST-K Title Match: TAKA Michinoku vs. Daigoro Kashiwa 11:41 of 12:53
STRONGEST-K Tag Title Match: Makoto Oishi & Shiori Asahi vs. YOSHIYA & GENTARO 11:45 of 26:07
WEW Hardcore Tag Title Match: Brahman Shu & Brahman Kei vs. Taishi Takizawa & Hiro Tonai 8:26 of 15:42
Independent Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Makoto Oishi vs. GENTARO 5:20 of 18:28
CHAMPION OF STRONGEST-K Title Match: TAKA Michinoku vs. Yasu Urano 8:37 of 19:36
10/18/09 Chiba Blue Field
Saburo Inematsu & Bambi vs. Hiro Tonai & Kim Nam Seok 1:57 of 8:21
Handicap Match: YOSHIYA vs. Yu Yamagata & Ryuichi Sekine 2:15 of 2:28
Kaji Tomato Debut Match: Kaji Tomato vs. Boso Boy Raito 4:43 of 9:30
Elimination Match: Kengo Mashimo & Daigoro Kashiwa vs. Kunio Toshima & PSYCHO 4:26 of 15:17
KAIENTAI DOJO Chop Strongest Decision Match - STRONGEST-C: Yuji Hino vs. Taishi Takizawa 9:45 of 17:24
STRONGEST-K Tag Title Match: Makoto Oishi & Shiori Asahi vs. JOE & Danshoku Dieno 11:00 of 21:54
CHAMPION OF STRONGEST-K Title Match: TAKA Michinoku vs. KAZMA 6:53 of 14:22
YOSHIYA & Yu Yamagata & Ryuichi Sekine vs. Kunio Toshima & Hardcore Kid Kojiro & Kim Nam Seok 5:06 of 9:01
Boso Boy Raito & Kaji Tomato vs. Saburo Inematsu & Bambi 6:35 of 6:59
UWA Middleweight Title: PSYCHO vs. Shinobu 6:56 of 12:52
STRONGEST-K Tag Team Title Contendership 3 Way Match: Kengo Mashimo & Daigoro Kashiwa vs. Taishi Takizawa & Hiro Tonai vs. JOE & Randy Takuya 18:16 of 19:10
Kota Ibushi & Makoto Oishi & Shiori Asahi vs. TAKA Michinoku & Dick Togo & MEN'S Teio 10:28 of 19:25. An exciting reunion of the 90's stars take on the new generation who make everything fast and athletic. Togo works his fast paced style and Teio has a sequence of his cradles, but it's really the young guys who are the standouts, particularly Ibushi who is just on fire, backflipping all over the place including kicking Togo & Teio at the same time. It's a shame they didn't show more of this, as their up and comers Oishi & Asahi looked good and it was a rare chance to see some of KAIENTAI DX back together again. ***1/2 range
CHAMPION OF STRONGEST-K Title Match: KAZMA vs. Yuji Hino 21:18 of 24:08. Two dull plodding wrestlers who did nothing but strike and didn't seem serious enough, although some of that was the booking. It reminded me of Takeshi Rikio wrestling himself in an "entertainment" leaning match. When it was good, it was quite stiff, but mostly it was mediocre and lacking in intensity. Hino did a lot of lame slapping early, but in the 2nd half they did their ode to Kenta Kobashi vs. Kensuke Sasaki 7/18/05 and a brutal dueling lariat sequence. Hino had the odds stacked against him as KAZMA had Kengo Mashimo, Daigoro Kashiwa & Hiro Tonai to interfere anytime he needed them. Hino fended them off for a while, but when he had KAZMA pinned in a German suplex hold, the goons all jumped in and took the ref out for several minutes then triple teamed until enough faces appeared to even the score. It's sad when the highlight of a big title match is a guy from the last match, Asahi, running out from the back and hitting a quebrada. For some reason the match eventually continued, and it was again interference that ruined the match for Hino as Tonai gave KAZMA the title belt to clock him with then KAZMA followed up with the axe bomber for the win. *3/4
TAKA Michinoku & Yasu Urano vs. HIROKI & MIYAWAKI 11:45
8th Anniversary Royal Rumble Battle Royal 9:38 of 10:09
Independent Junior Heavyweight Title Match: GENTARO vs. Marines Mask II (PSYCHO)
International Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Ikuto Hidaka vs. Makoto Oishi 9:23 of 13:38. Quick, athletic match with nice knee work back and forth. Hidaka was dominating early, but Oishi injured his knee with a dropkick and a 619 to the knee when Hidaka was on the middle rope. They exchanged knee moves with Oishi using Hidaka's own Shawn capture on him. Just as you began to believe Oishi could win the match, Hidaka leveled him with a high kick for a rolling elbow and finished him off. Too short, but both men gave good hard working performances. ***
WEW Hardcore Tag Title vs. STRONGEST-K Tag Title Match: Yuji Hino & Saburo Inematsu vs. Kengo Mashimo & Daigoro Kashiwa 10:46 of 13:21
CHAMPION OF STRONGEST-K Title Match: KAZMA vs. Shiori Asahi 16:13 of 27:12. Asahi was fired up and had the crowd behind him. They did a pretty good job of countering each other, often using these spots to keep the hopes of Asahi's fans up, as the underdog hit his various pinning moves for near falls. The match was certainly more dynamic than KAZMA's 11/14/09 defense against Hino, as the power vs. speed stuff kept him on his toes and the audience in some suspense. Still, it was fairly one-sided and a bit sloppy. KAZMA does have potential, but he needs to work on being more convincing. It's not so much what he does, but that he's trying to be a badass yet so many of his hits lack intensity and savagery. He's just not able to pass off the illusion, and too often is merely a guy who performs basic clubbing offense without much actual stick. This was fairly entertaining, but mostly for Asahi. **1/2
Tsukasa Fujimoto & Hikaru Shida vs. Bambi & Aoi Ishibashi 9:23
Shiori Asahi & Hiro Tonai vs. HIROKI & Randy Takuya 11:46
Handicap Match: Taishi Takizawa vs. Hikari Minami & Tsukushi & Kurumi 8:48
Mixed Tag Match: Kaji Tomato & Riho vs. Saburo Inematsu & Miyako Matsumoto 7:08
Marines Mask II vs. Sayaka Obihiro strikeout pitching contest
Kengo Mashimo & Chii Tomiya vs. Ryuichi Sekine & Emi Sakura 12:02