-1hr 20min. Q=Master
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Masahito Kakihara
Kazuo Yamazaki & Tatsuo Nakano vs. Yoji Anjo & Yuko Miyato
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Tom Burton
Yuko Miyato vs. Tom Burton
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Yoji Anjo
Kazuo Yamazaki vs. J.T. Southern
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Tatsuo Nakano
Standing Bout: Makoto Ohe vs. Rudy Rabord (sp?)
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Tom Burton
Yuko Miyato vs. Kazuo Yamazaki
Yoji Anjo vs. Tatsuo Nakano
Nobuhiko Takada vs. J.T. Southern
Standing Bout: Makoto Ohe vs. J. Arlano. Good action. Arlano did better in round one. 2R 1:32
Tatsuo Nakano vs. Yuko Miyato. Their UWF matches seemed much longer, but this developed slowly as always. In a way that was good because the last few minutes were exciting, and you didn't have to wait forever to get to them. As a whole, the standup was good, but the mat was a bit dull. 9:41. **
Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Billy Scott. Exciting, dramatic, and smartly worked. Just vintage Yamazaki. They really fought with each other instead of the usual just go with the move offering no resistance. You'd think someone might have noticed how into this the fans were. 12:39. ***1/2
Nobuhiko Takada & Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Yoji Anjo & Jim Boss. Great in points, but nothing special in others. Should have been much better than it was, but since they had so few workers and only got 25 minutes out of the undercard, this had to go on forever. In the first half they pretty much conserved the points then went through them in the 2nd half. 31:02. ***
Standing Bout: Makoto Ohe vs. Marb Winon (sp?)
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Yuko Miyato
Gary Albright vs. Yoji Anjo
Nobuhiko Takada & Billy Scott vs. Kazuo Yamazaki & Tatsuo Nakano
Standing Bout: Makoto Ohe vs. Rafael Aguilar
Tatsuo Nakano vs. Kiyoshi Tamura
Yuko Miyato vs. Gary Albright
Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Yoji Anjo
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Bob Backlund
Standing Bout: Makoto Ohe vs. Sakuchai Sakuwitaya R1 1:57
Kiyoshi Tamura & Yuko Miyato vs. Tatsuo Nakano & Tom Burton 8:48
Billy Scott vs. Yoji Anjo 11:29
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki 16:45
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Masakazu Maeda. Kanehara is so underrated as a worker. Even with minimal experience, he carried a no experience rookie that never amounted to anything to a good match. Even match that was pretty good in all aspects. Kanehara controlled the mat, but Maeda had some long stretches of throwing all his strikes at Kanehara. Overall, it was more of a technical match, but Kanehara is a good striker too. His strikes were crisper and more precise than Maeda's even though striking was supposed to be Maeda's advantage. Kanehara did a handful of suplexes including an overhead bodylock. 15:00. **1/2
Standing Bout: Makoto Ohe vs. Bins Rose. Adequate. 2:52 of R2.
Masahito Kakihara vs. Jim Bose. Short but exciting bout that was almost all standup. Lots of knockdowns. Bose got a bloody nose. 4:03. **3/4
Yuko Miyato vs. Tom Burton. Even match. Burton clinched and use his size and strength to throw Miyato around or apply a submission. 7:50. **
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Gary Albright. Tamura did his job very well, but that was limited to making Albright look good. He made a lot of nice counters to gain control, but Albright was just too big for him to sustain an advantage. Tamura couldn't move Gary, who kept throwing him around and limited his offense to just above nil. 5:25. **1/4
Yoji Anjo vs. Bob Backlund. Anjo carried this and Backlund was okay. Backlund was better in UWF than UWF-I because the style kept progressing and leaving him behind. His wrestling was less credible due to these changes, and his world's silliest expressions didn't exactly add to his believability. That said, if he'd done this style full time during his formative years I have no doubt he'd have been very good. 11:25. **
Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Tatsuo Nakano. One of those UWF-I matches that was way ahead of its time, but didn't alter their style for the better like it should have. Cautious, strategic, more realistic match. It wasn't typical UWF-I where one wouldn't fear the consequences of throwing a kick. Yamazaki would try to sneak them in like a real shoot, but he'd still fail often. Yamazaki would basically kick, though hardly continuously, until Nakano caught his leg and took him down similar to the typical kickboxer vs. wrestler shoots. 13:23. ***1/4
Kakutogi Sekaiichi Ketteisen 3 Min 10R: Billy Scott vs. James Warring. One of the most boring and monotonous fights, ever! Scott took strikes all night looking for an opening to shoot that apparently never presented itself. That might be okay if Warring landed any good strikes, but basically Scott kept his hands up and Warring just threw occassional pawing punches. Once in a while he did connect with a decent low kick. The fans were booing after the 4th round. It seemed like Warring wasn't cooperating the way Scott expected because Scott didn't shoot until the 5th round, and after Warring grabbed the ropes to prevent the takedown, Scott seemed pissed in his future attempts. His second takedown attempt was a bodylock, but he just rammed him into the corner. I think Scott supposedly "shot" on Warring in this match, but it seemed like it was in a worked way to get Warring to open up rather than trying to do serious damage. Like, he'd refuse to release the submission when Warring grabbed the ropes, but he wasn't really choking him out and he wasn't doing it for heel heat since he was the face. It did seem like he took some cheap shots in the last few round when Warring grabbed the ropes, but really nothing that might injure Warring so it could have been part of the plan. Warring was a big problem, but Scott really sucked at takedowns too. He kept going high, so he was his own worst enemy driving Warring toward the ropes, which is where he wanted to be anyway. Finally Scott scooped Warring on his shoulders, but Warring grabbed the ropes before he could slam him, so Scott dumped him over the top. I suppose you could blame the rules for ruining the match, but I blame the competitors because I've seen these mixed matches with the rope breaks be damn good. It's smart for the kickboxer to grab the ropes to avoid the takedown, but in a work you want to mix strategy with action. Here, we just got 100 rope breaks. 10R. DUD
Kakutogi Sekaiichi Ketteisen 3 Min 10R: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Trevor Berbick. This wasn't intended to be comedy, but I can't think of many funnier matches. Berbick just had no idea what he was getting himself into and came off as one of the great wusses of all-time. Takada started with a low kick and Berbick complained it was below the belt. Takada threw another and Berbick stopped fighting altogether, complaining to everyone. Apparently, he thought this was like that crummy American kickboxing where there's no kicking below the waste. The thing is the match was a work and while Takada threw good kicks, he didn't come out throwing kicks that were noticably harder than the ones he regularly uses on his pals that weigh 70 pounds less than Trevor. In fact, I never saw a kick that convinced me Takada shot on Berbick in the traditional sense. Takada definitely didn't follow their agreement unless for some reason there was none to follow. In any case, Takada kept throwing low kicks because they were really rattling Berbick, who was totally clueless to why the ref wasn't warning Takada or deducting points for these "illegal" tactics. Berbick told Takada "no more" and pointed to his knee, but Takada kicked it again and again anyway. Finally, Takada kicked Berbick in the knee when he was in the corner and Berbick said, "What the fuck is this? What the fuck is this?" and hoped out of the ring never to return. Outside, he swore up a storm claiming Takada changed the rules. I don't know how to rate this, but it gets huge marks for perverse entertainment. 2:52
1/9/92
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Masakazu Maeda. Exciting but flawed match. There was a lot of countering, with Maeda sometimes following impressively and other times making mistakes. It helped that Kanehara's transitions were so good. Well, it helped that Kanehara was so good period, once again totally making the match. Maeda wasn't real accurate with his strikes and his footwork and balancing was lacking. Kanehara's face got marked up from some errant blows. The match was kind of long considering Maeda's experience level, but the length turned out to be okay except it was embarrassing that Kanehara drew a guy that was so inferior. 15:00. **3/4
Masahito Kakihara vs. Tom Burton. Kakihara was too quick and athletic for Burton. He was just dominating, leading 14-3. Burton didn't have much offense, with unconvincing comebacks and unclean execution. Kakihara made some good moves, but as a whole it was very disappointing because they didn't work that well together and Burton is certainly better than this match would lead you to believe. 10:49. **
Tatsuo Nakano vs. J.T. Southern. Southern's offense was holding an appendage. Nakano was never big into submission, so this wasn't a good matchup. Nakano got fired up at 7:30 and did some of his regular big moves, but that didn't save the match since it ended within 25 seconds. 7:52. *
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Yuko Miyato. Very intense and pretty realistic. Tamura was really good here, and Miyato more than held his own. Tamura was in control more, but Miyato was slaughtering him points wise because his knockdowns are worth 3 times Tamura's forced rope escapes. Tamura made some amazing balance counters to avoid Miyato's submission and go into one of his own. 8:11. ***
Kazuo Yamazaki & Yoji Anjo vs. Gary Albright & Jim Bose. Yamazaki was obviously the standout. He knows how to make Albright seem a lot more impressive than he is, but Gary also deserves credit for being up to the task. That pairing produced really good stuff that well thought out with the lower success rate where you had to work up to the big moves. I liked how an attack would start to work, but would then be countered on the 2nd or 3rd step, so it was back to the drawing board. The fans were really into it. Anjo vs. Bose obviously wasn't as good or interesting, but it was decent enough. Bose is one of those real persistent guys tat is willing to get hit if that's what it takes to do the technique he's trying for. His strikes weren't very credible though. 15:57. ***
2/15/92
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Masakazu Maeda. This was an improvement over their previous match, but it plays a lot better when you see it 5 weeks later rather than 1 1/2hr. Kanehara was more willing to have standup exchanges in this one, which wasn't a wise strategy but made for a more exciting match. Maeda was cleaner and more precise here. 15:00. ***
Masahito Kakihara vs. J.T. Southern. Mainly due to the hairdo Southern looks something like HHH a couple hundred thousands injections ago in WCW as JPL. Unfortunately, he might not even be that "talented". Kakihara blitzed Southern, who couldn't deal with his speed and quickness, and had him on his heels for much of this short one-sided match. 4:51. *1/2
Kiyoshi Tamura & Yuko Miyato vs. Tatsuo Nakano & Mark Silver. Tamura totally carried the first part, which was mainly avoidance counters. When you see this style in the midst of all just take the rope escape stuff you wonder why it took so long for guys to catch on to how much better this style makes the matches, not to mention allowing the match to go long without them killing a bunch of time so they didn't run out of points too soon. Nakano's submission work with Tamura was as good as his ground stuff ever looked. Nakano stepped up in the second half, which was more his style with the highlight offense. The match just exploded at this point with the success rate suddenly going from very low to high, which was goofy but at least both parts were very good on their own. Silver isn't coordinated or clean enough to do much with Tamura and added nothing to the match, but at least wasn't allowed to reduce it. 18:23. ***1/2
Yoji Anjo vs. Pez Whatley. Why in the world did NWA push Shaska? He was even worse in this style because all he could do was "control" his opponent. The audience was giggling because he didn't know what to do once he got on top. For some reason it took Anjo 5 minutes to get anything off against this expert, then he won immediately. 5:10. DUD
Nobuhiko Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Gary Albright & Tom Burton. This was the typical case where Yamazaki was undermined by the booking. He works better with Albright because he's smarter and quicker than Takada and actually understands the positions. Since Takada was the bigger star though it was Takada vs. Albright that everyone wanted to see, so Yamazaki was largely stuck with the simply outclassed Burton and because the match was designed to build up Gary he had to be the job boy yet again. There were still some nice spots between Yamazaki and Albright though, like when Albright rammed Yamazaki into the corner to stop a German suplex then arm tossed Yamazaki off into a arm bar attempt. A spot you saw far too rarely in UWF-I was the a guy paying for getting up quick to avoid a knockdown being called. Yamazaki saved two points by rushing to his feet after Gary's bodylock suplex, but Gary leveled him back down with a forearm. Speaking of things you don't see, where the hell were the leg takedowns in this league? You had all these former wrestlers and they are all grabbing high. This match wasn't all it could be because its purpose was to set up the 5/8/92 title match by furthering Gary's monster push. 17:11. ***
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Masukazu Maeda
Standing Bout: Makoto Ohe vs. Pat Kane
Tatsuo Nakano vs. Pez Whatley
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Mark Silver
Yoji Anjo vs. Yuko Miyato
Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Tom Burton
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Mark Flemming
Gary Albright vs. Masahito Kakihara
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Masukazu Maeda
Masahito Kakihara vs. Mark Silver
Tatsuo Nakano vs. Tom Burton
Mark Silver & Yoji Anjo vs. Yuko Miyata & Kiyoshi Tamura
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Steve Day
Gary Albright vs. Kazuo Yamazaki
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Masakazu Maeda. Both men were fired up, so they went at it hard and fast, wasting little time. It wasn't a technical masterpiece, but it was exciting because it was all action. Maeda was the better striker, but Kanehara had the submission skills. This made for a dynamic match because Kanehara would takea lot of punishment trying to get Maeda down. Kanehara had superior stamina, so he was able to get some big strikes in as Maeda tired. Definitely one of UWF-I's best openers. ***1/4
Masahito Kakihara vs. Mark Silver. As good as Kakihara is, it was still too long because Silver has no offense, no charisma, and lacks stamina. Silver didn't seem to want to take Kakihara's strikes either. Way too much dancing around and positioning, way too few points lost considering how long it was. Kakihara tried, but it was like wrestling a smaller version of Severn and he just didn't know what to do with this guy. *
Tatsuo Nakano vs. Tom Burton. Not much happened then the finish came out of nowhere. *
Yuko Miyato vs. Mark Flemming. The match built slowly to the bigger spots, but there was always something happening so it stayed entertaining throughout. Flemming had good wrestling ability, but he actually applied it in an entertaining wy and seemed to have takent the time to go beyond straight wrestling. Miyato helped him a lot, doing the little things to make the moves look good and technique look clean. Good solid match. ***
Yoji Anjo vs. Steve Day. Anjo looked pretty good here, but Day lacked the technical ability to follow him. Day also couldn't strike, so he just went for takedowns. It was passable, but they didn't work that well together, not that Anjo had much to work with. *1/2
Special Exhibition Match: Billy Robinson vs. Nick Bockwinkle. Their bodies were shot, but their minds were still sharp. They did so much, they just didn't (couldn't) do it physically. So there weren't that many spots, but they made everything they did have meaning. There was no wasted motion, and they understood the degree to put the various moves over. This match shows it's not what you can do, but how you do it. It was so basic, yet so advanced. **1/2
Tokubetsu Jiai (Special Match): Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Koji Kitao. From the opening intense stare to putting over the KO, Yamazaki used his acting ability as much as his wrestling ability to make the match and get Kitao over that much more than he already was. Yamazaki saw a huge slow opponent, so he tried to kick his legs out. The problem was that Kitao was so much bigger and stronger that he could take a lot more of Yamazaki's blows than Yamazaki could take of his. Kitao is so awful, but Yamazaki is so smart & talented that he got a good match out of him because he knew how to play things. Kitao's offense was horrible at times, but Yamazaki sold it so well that it didn't kill the match like it could have. In the end, Kitao came off as being really impressive (in a real fighter sense, not as a worker) because of his size and the things Yamazaki did to make his offense look deadly. Of course, all the fans wanted Yamazaki to win, but they had to pay to see Takada vs. Kitao to see Kitao lose. ***
Kakutogi Sekai Ichi Ketteisen 3 minutes 10 rounds: Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Mathew Saad Mohammed. This was practically over as soon as it began, but it was a great win for Tamura since Mohammed was a former WCW and NABF light heavyweight boxing champion.
Kakutogi Sekai Ichi Ketteisen: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Gary Albright. Albright's strategy was to be as close as possible to Takada, so Takada wouldn't have room to throw his powerful kicks. This had some really good spots, but it didn't flow and there was too much dead time. Takada did a good job with Gary, but Gary wasn't very impressive. His one-dimensional suplex style hurt the match because they were on the mat a lot, and he couldn't do much of anything there. The standup portions were really good though with Takada's nasty kicks and knees, and some big suplexes by Gary. **1/2
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Yoshiro Takayama 7:58
Tatsuo Nakano & Mark Fleming vs. Kiyoshi Tamura & Yuko Miyato 17:51
Masahito Kakihara vs. Yoji Anjo 10:12
Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Steve Day 9:39
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Mark Silver 5:15
Gary Albright vs. Tom Burton 2:32
Standing Bout: Makoto Ohe vs. Fernando Carlos
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Yoshihiro Takayama
Masahito Kakihara vs. Yuko Miyato
Yoji Anjo & Mark Flemming vs. Tatsuo Nakano & Tom Burton
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Steve Cox
Kazuo Yamazaki & Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Gary Albright & Mark Silver
8/14/92
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Yoshihiro Takayama
Yuko Miyato & Masahito Kakihara vs. Tatsuo Nakano & Tom Burton
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Ray Lloyd
Nobuhiko Takada & Mark Flemming vs. Kazuo Yamazaki & Mark Silver
Gary Albright vs. Bad News Allen
8/28/92
Standing Bout: Makoto Ohe vs. Damian Meyer
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Yoshihiro Takayama
Mark Silver vs. Masahito Kakihara
Yuko Miyato vs. Tatsuo Nakano
Yoji Anjo vs. Kiyoshi Tamura
Nobuhiko Takada & Mark Flemming vs. Kazuo Yamazaki & Steve Cox
Gary Albright vs. Bad News Allen
Dai-ikkai Junior Leaguesen: Tom Burton vs. Yoshihiro Takayama
Dai-ikkai Junior Leaguesen: Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Mark Silver
Masahito Kakihara vs. Tatsuo Nakano
Yuko Miyato vs. Mark Flemming
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Steve Cox
Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Yoji Anjo
Pro-Wrestling Sekai Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Gary Albright vs. Nobuhiko Takada
Standing Bout 3min 5R: Makoto Oe vs. Kenpon Geow Samrick (sp?)
1st Junior Leaguesen: Tom Burton vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara
1st Junior Leaguesen: Mark Silver vs. Yoshihiro Takayama
Yoji Anjo vs. Iron Sheik
Gary Albright & Mark Flemming vs. Yuko Miyato & Masahito Kakihara
Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Kiyoshi Tamura. ****1/4
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Koji Kitao
Standing Bout 3min 5R: Makoto Oe vs. David Cummings
Hiromitsu Kanehara & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Jean Lydick & Mark Silver
Dan Severn vs. Yuko Miyato
Yoji Anjo vs. Masahito Kakihara
Nobuhiko Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Gary Albright & Mark Flemming
Makoto Ohe & Bovy Chowaikung vs. Rudy Lovato & Fernando Calleros 17:03
Tom Burton vs. Mark Silver 2:31
Junior League Match: Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Yoshihiro Takayama 13:05
Bad News Allen vs. Yuko Miyato 3:51
Dan Severn vs. Yoji Anjo 6:12
Gary Albright vs. Masahito Kakihara 2:48
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Dennis Koslowski 5:46
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Naoki Sano 12:51
Standing Bout: Bouy Chowaikun vs. Mel Murray
Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Tom Burton
Tatsuo Nakano vs. Masahito Kakihara
Mark Silver vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara
Dan Severn vs. Yoji Anjo
Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Dennis Koslowski
Gary Albright vs. Naoki Sano
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kiyoshi Tamura
Steve Day vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara 6:55
Mark Fleming vs. Yoshihiro Takayama 7:01
Tatsuo Nakano & Gene Lydick vs. Yoji Anjo & Tom Burton 15:57
Bad News Allen vs. Yuko Miyato 6:30
Naoki Sano vs. Masahito Kakihara 6:46
Dan Severn vs. Kiyoshi Tamura 21:37
Gary Albright vs. Dennis Koslowski 5:01
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki 15:13
Bad News Allen vs. Takayama. Bad News carried the match, and it wasn't terrible, but it was very one-sided and basic.
Jean Lydick & Tom Burton vs. Kakihara & Anjo. Good match with rivals Kakihara & Lydick tearing it up. Lydick was really good here.
Yuko Miyato vs. Kazuo Yamazaki. Very good match. Work was really good, and the match was very exciting because there were a ton of near finishes.
Naoki Sano vs. Kiyoshi Tamura. Very good match. Highly technical and extremely solid.
Tatsuo Nakano vs. Super Vader. Really heated match, with the fans fully behind the underdog native Nakano. Basically a squash, but that type of win was the perfect way to get their new monster, Vader, over huge.
Gary Albright vs. Dennis Koslowski. Decent match with Koslowski dominating the mat, and trying his best to avoid Gary's killer suplexes. Good psychology and a good job of getting Gary's suplexes over as lethal.
Dan Severn vs. Nobuhiko Takada. Severn was pretty clueless, but it was interesting to watch Takada struggle to figure out what he could do with him. He gave Severn openings, but Severn didn't take them. Not too dramatic and well below Takada's usual standard.
Hase vs. Fujiwara, Hogan vs. Muta, Liger vs. Tiger Mask (Kanemoto), Choshu & Tenryu vs. Inoki & Fujinami, Norton vs. Sting, Vader vs. Nakano, Albright vs. Koslowski, Takada vs. Severn, more!
AJ Pro Wrestling 5/30/93 '93 Super Power Series taped 5/21 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Masa Fuchi vs. Danny Kroffat. Looked like a hot match, but only 2 ½ minutes shown. Kroffat wins title.
Toshiaki Kawada vs. Steve Williams. Brutal match. Looked excellent, but only 6 ½ minutes shown.
Triple Crown: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Stan Hansen. Excellent match. Hansen wrestled a really smart. He is old and doesn't have great stamina, but he used his brawling spots to injure Misawa's arm. Then, he was able to rest by doing submissions to the arm that weren't seen as resting because they advanced the match. The psychology and utilization of the spots were among the strong points, but Misawa should have won with the facelock. He used that move 5 times, all deep in the match where they could have been the finish.the fans here still reacted to it but it's no wonder how the move lost all it's heat. ****1/4
UWF-I TV 6/1/93 taped 5/6 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Naoki Sano vs. Kiyoshi Tamura. ¼ aired, so it seemed really good because they just showed the hot spots.
Super Vader vs. Tatsuo Nakano. Vader makes his UWF-I debut by obliterating Nakano in 3:35. This match did a great job of getting Vader over as a monster. Good for what it was.
Gary Albright vs. Dennis Koslowski. Another short match that was not supposed to be great, but served it's purpose of getting Albright and his killer suplexes over more.
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Dan Severn. Decent match in spite of Severn.
AJ Pro Wrestling 30 6/20/99
6/11 Tokyo Nippon Budokan Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama. Kawada brought his A game and did a great job of carrying Takayama. Taue even did a good job with Takayama. The fans were going nuts so the match seemed even better than it was. It looked like it could be excellent, but in unedited form, very good might be a stretch.
6/9 Sendai Miyagi-ken Sports Center Sekai Tag Senshukenjiai: Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs. Johnny Ace & Bart Gunn. Ace & Gunn win titles. **1/2
6/11 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Jun Akiyama vs. Johnny Ace. Akiyama came out like a house of fire and the pace never slowed down. The fans bought Akiyama's near falls before the 2 minute mark because they were working so fast and the moves were his big ones. Akiyama looked really good and raised the level of Ace's work, but Ace still wasn't that impressive. Although this was a hot match, it was so short that there really wasn't anything to it. *1/2
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Gene Lydick 20:00
Bad News Allen vs. Yoshihiro Takayama 4:44
Yuko Miyato vs. Ray Lloyd 7:25
Dennis Koslowski & Steve Day vs. Naoki Sano & Masahito Kakihara 14:20
Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Yoji Anjoh 15:09
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Tatsuo Nakano 13:32
Gary Albright vs. Mark Silver 1:05
Pro-Wrestling World Heavyweight Title Match: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Salman Hashimikov 8:30
Standing Bout: Bouy Chowaikun vs. Tony Kokepan
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Steve Nelson. **1/4
2nd Junior League Match: Tommy Cairo vs. Greg Bobchuck. *1/2
2nd Junior League Match: Jean Lydick vs. Yoshihiro Takayama. Takayama was far from great, but his work was credible and he didn't screw anything up. They mainly fought on their feet, which is the only thing Takayama can sometimes do well, and they did a lot of near finishes that got good heat. Lydick was typically good here. **3/4
2nd Junior League Match: Tom Burton vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara. **
Masahito Kakihara vs. Bad News Allen. Kakihara's offense looked great, but Bad News offense was exactly what his name states. **
Yuko Miyato vs. Dennis Koslowski. *1/2
Yoji Anjo vs. Naoki Sano. ***
Nobuhiko Takada & Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Gary Albright & Dan Severn. The top working natives did their best to carry the incredibly inferior gaijins. Albright was carryable at this time. He did a very good job of playing monster, which added to the heat. Severn was useless as usual, but Takada and Tamura were good enough to make Severn's stuff passable. Since Severn wasn't the focus of the match, his ineptitude didn't hurt too much. This wasn't a great match, but it really served it's purpose, which was to build to a Takada vs. Gary singles match. ***1/2
Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Super Vader. This match accomplished it's goal at the expense of the match quality. It was a great match while it lasted, and would have been a great match if they went the 15 or so minutes you'd normally see a UWF-I main event go, but this match was pretty short to get Vader over more. Still, when all was said and done, you really felt like you saw something. I attribute that to the psychology and story being so great, and secondarily to the incredible aura. Yamazaki may never have been this over in his life, the whole building was just going nuts for him in hope that he could beat the monster. Even when Yamazaki resorted to underhanded tactics, the fans had no problem with it, in fact the roof would have come off the building from the applause if he had won with a cheap tactic, because they realized he "had to" do it because the opposition was so incredibly strong. ***3/4
*I have a very limited quantity of additional 1st Gen SP copies of this two tape set*
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Mark Silver
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Tommy Cairo
Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Thomas Burton
Greg Bobchuck vs. Jean Lydick
Yoji Anjo vs. Tatsuo Nakano
Masahito Kakihara vs. Dennis Koslowski
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Yuko Miyato
Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Bad News Allen
Gary Albright & Dan Severn vs. Salmon Hashimikov & Vladimir Berkovitch
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Billy Scott
Super Vader vs. Naoki Sano
Anjo vs. Nakano
Kakihara vs. Koslowski
Kanehara vs. Tommy Cairo
Tamura vs. Miyato
Greg Bobchuck vs. Lydick
Yamazaki vs. Bad News Allen
Albright & Severn vs. Hashimikov & Berkovitch
Takada vs. Scott
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Bad News Allen. *
Dainikai Junior Leaguesen: Jean Lydick vs. Tom Burton. *1/2
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Greg Bobchuck. **1/4
Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Tommy Cairo. 1 minute 25 seconds long.
Masahito Kakihara vs. Tatsuo Nakano. *1/2
Yuko Miyato & Naoki Sano vs. Kazuo Yamazaki & Mark Silver. **1/2
Yoji Anjo vs. Billy Scott. ***1/4
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Dennis Koslowski. **1/4
Gary Albright & Dan Severn vs. Salman Hashimikov & Vladmir Berkovich. Really smartly laid out to get over the dislike between the two teams and set up future business. ***
Pro-Wrestling Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Super Vader. This was their first ever meeting that drew the sellout 46,168 record for this building (since broken by Muta vs. Onita). This was a real first class production with Thesz giving a speech about wanting to unify the titles so there would be a true world champion (Vader's WCW Heavyweight Title wasn't on the line, but the idea was the winner was still the undisputed champion), and Hodge & Robinson being introduced to show how important the match was. The match had the aura a title match should have and Vader worked really hard to give a top notch peformance. It was an excellent match, but not on the level of their first rematch because Takada wasn't as good here and they did a shorter, less spot intensive, match. ****
*I have a very limited quantity of additional 1st Gen VHS copies of this two tape set*
These tapes highlight Takada's matches from 1992-94 when Takada was one of the best and most successful wrestlers on the planet.
10/23/92: Takada vs. Koji Kitao
11/25/92: Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Gary Albright & Mark Fleming
12/20/92: Takada vs. Dennis Koslowski
12/20/92: Takada vs. Naoki Sano
2/14/93: Takada vs. Kiyoshi Tamura
4/10/93: Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki
5/6/93: Takada vs. Dan Severn
8/3 1st Round
Takashi Iizuka vs. Hiromuchi Fuyuki (WAR)
Shiro Koshinaka vs. Super Strong Machine
Masa Chono vs. Ashura Hara (WAR)
Hiroshi Hase vs. Shinya Hashimoto
Highlights of the rest of the 1st round matches, the second round matches, and the semifinals
8/7 Final
Hiroshi Hase vs. Tatsumi Fujinami. Fujinami wins G1
8/3 Special Bouts
Akitoshi Saito vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Wild Pegasus vs. Tiger Mask (Kanemoto)
Hell Raisers vs. Nasty Boys (WCW)
Fujinami & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Koki Kitahara (WAR)
Highlights of 1992-94 Takada matches
4/3/94: Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki
5/6/94: Takada vs. Jean Lydick
9/21/92: Takada vs. Gary Albright
8/13/93: Takada & Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Gary Albright & Dan Severn
2/25/94: Takada & Naoki Sano vs. Gary Albright & Dan Severn
7/18/93: Takada vs. Salmon Hashimikov
10/4/93: Takada vs. Billy Scott
12/5/93: Takada vs. Super Vader
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Steve Nelson. Really strong performance by Sakuraba. This was a fast-paced match, as both men were very aggressive and intense. They went through most of the points, so that helped make it exciting. Even though Sakuraba is first and foremost a technician, he relied much heavier on stiff kicks than normal because Nelson is much better on the mat than he is in standup. ***1/4
Tatsuo Nakano vs. Yoshihiro Takayama. Sad match. Takayama did nothing on offense and his selling of Nakano's strikes, which were generally good, was pathetic. *
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Yuko Miyato. Typical Kanehara match where he impresses you with just how good of a technician is, but as usual he gets no respect from the bookers, so the match doesn't reach it's potential. The finish out of the blue really didn't work here, IMO. **3/4
Jean Lydick vs. Billy Scott. This was pretty good while it lasted, but it was just too short. Lydick was a bad ass even though his opponent was a gaijin, but the fans didn't get into it as much for that reason, although I think it was why the fans supported him over the higher ranked Scott. Scott did blow up once, punching JL in the face which fattened his lip a bit and then kicking him after Lydick grabbed to rope to escape Scott's chickenwing armlock. **
Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Yoji Anjo. Matches like this are the reason UWF-I killed themselves. Yamazaki's skill hadn't declined and it wasn't like he was too old or something, but they killed off his drawing power and then his credibility by no longer letting him beat the top guys. Since he wasn't getting wins in his big matches, he couldn't afford to lose to guys they were trying to bring up the ranks. If they would have paid attention to how NJ books, they would have known that. See Hase getting to the finals of the '93 G1, and then putting over guys left and right. This was an even match with good technique, but Yamazaki didn't seem that motivated knowing what he had to go through with, and the crowd wasn't really into it because it was slow, not very flashy, 80's UWF style. **1/4
Nobuhiko Takada & Naoki Sano vs. Gary Albright & Dan Severn. An interesting match. The whole point of the match was Takada vs. Albright, and they barely gave you any of that, yet you came out of the match with a good feeling and wanting to see Takada vs. Albright in singles, rather than feeling cheated. I guess because the match was exciting and the crowd was really into it. In any case, it was interesting yet smart that they had Gary clearly get the best of Takada during the brief sequences they worked together, as Gary was the only one that had beat Takada in UWF-I, not even Vader had done it yet, so it made it look like the hero, Takada, really had an uphill battle for once. Takada was by far the best here, with Sano & Albright doing their job effectively. Severn was alright on the mat, but he had no clue how to sell. ***1/4
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Masahito Kakihara. These two awesome talents finally got the slot they deserved, the main event. It was interesting that they chose realism over flash, especially since it was Kakihara. I think flash would have got them more over with the fans, but I respect the patience and composure they showed here. I liked how they were cautious and built the match around being even, with each sequence culminating with one guy getting a small victory over the other. I think RINGS fans will appreciate this more than UWF-I fans, the fans certainly there didn't react that much to it until the last few minutes, because of it's technical excellence and realism. It was far more realistic than any match on this card, and one of the more realistic UWF-I matches I've seen. Even though you wouldn't see so many heavy kicks in a real shoot, although you'd see them in worked RINGS matches too, Tamura made them seem realistic because he didn't just throw caution to the wind and try to unload series of kicks that would result in him taken down with ease in a shoot. Instead, he did little fakes to keep Kakihara off balance and prevent him from getting that takedown. It wasn't a thing of beauty like a Tamura vs. Han match, but it was a strong match where they did a lot of little things well. ***3/4
Tatsuo Nakano vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara
Yuko Miyato vs. Yoshihiro Takayama
'94 PRO-WRESTLING WORLD TOURNAMENT 1st Round:
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Bad News Allen 6:11
Gene Lydick vs. Vladimir Berkovich 9:40
Yoji Anjo vs. Victor Zangiev 5:54
Masahito Kakihara vs. Dan Severn 10:39
Super Vader vs. Salman Hashimikov
Gary Albright vs. Billy Scott 2:11
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki 7:17
ISKA World Light Welterweight Title Match: Makoto vs. Didier Montoya
Tom Burton vs. Kazushi Sakuraba 5:10
Tatsuo Nakano vs. Vladimir Berkovich
Yoshihiro Takayama & Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Dan Severn & Billy Scott 4:36
Victor Zangiev vs. Yuko Miyato 4:22
Kazuo Yamazaki beat Salmon Hashimikov
'94 Pro-Wrestling World Tournament 2nd Round:
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Naoki Sano 13:52
Gary Albright vs. Yoji Anjoh 4:26
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Gene Lydick 5:04
Super Vader vs. Masahito Kakihara 3:40
Standing Bout: Bouy Chowaikun vs. Gary Hadowin (sp?). Good action.
Tom Burton vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara. Kanehara had a really strong showing here, mainly because he really understood how to work to Burton's strengths and stay away from his weaknesses. Good.
Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Billy Scott. Scott did what he could, but he had nothing to work with. Ok.
Jean Lydick & Steve Nelson vs. Masahito Kakihara & Kazushi Sakuraba. These guys are all talented and they showed their skills here. Great suplexes at the end. Good.
Tatsuo Nakano vs. Naoki Sano. Solid match. A lot of standup, but not as good or exciting as it could have been. Ok.
Salman Hashimikov & Victor Zangiev vs. Kazuo Yamazaki & Yoji Anjo. Good technically and very heated, but not that exciting due to the Russians. Pretty good.
'94 Pro Wrestling World Tournament Semifinal: Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Super Vader. This was pretty much what it had to be. Exciting match with Tamura taking a big beating, but showing a lot of skill and heart in the process. Excellent while it lasted, but not competitive enough to be a great match. Very good.
'94 Pro Wrestling World Tournament Semifinal: Gary Albright vs. Nobuhiko Takada. Slow building match centering on Gary's suplexes vs. Takada's jujigatame. Really effective teases. Second half was really heated and exciting. Great performance by Takada carrying Gary to what at that point was the best match of his career. Great.
Highlights of the first three rounds
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Bad News Allen. Pretty good with Kanehara showing potential
Mark Silver vs. Takayama. 0:37 DUD
Kakihara & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Lydick & Billy Scott. Very good match that was great and really heated when Kakihara and Lydick were facing off. Everyone looked good, and it was exciting as the match went down to the wire.
Yuko Miyato vs. Salmon Hashimikov. The work was fine, but the match was very one-sided.
Nakano vs. Yamazaki. Disappointing match. The finish was strong finish, but there wasn't much quality before that.
Anjo & Sano vs. Victor Zangiev & Vladmir Berkovich. A few really stiff shots, but the work wasn't very good.
'94 Pro Wrestling World Tournament 3rd Place Match: Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Gary Albright. Tamura did a super job here, getting as much out of Gary as anyone other than Kawada & Takada were able to. Heated match, with the crowd really pulling for a Tamura upset that absolutely needed to be booked. They really worked their way to Gary's suplexes, with all the teases of them getting over huge. Psychology was strong as Tamura, who was really outsized, tried to keep it on the mat and win the the jujigatame, while Albright kept working to KO Tamura with a suplex. Just an excellent performance by Tamura. At least on par with Takada's great match with Gary in the semifinals.
'94 Pro Wrestling World Tournament Final & Undisputed World Heavyweight Title Match: Super Vader vs. Nobuhiko Takada. Incredible, must see match that's as exciting as anything that can be done within the context of a "shoot." Everything was on the line here and these two just threw bombs for 20 minutes to try and come home as the "top fighter in the world." Tremendous stiffness, to the point it was as stiff as anything you'll ever see. Takada's kicks were awesome. Vader's eye was a mess after the match. Great heat and work. Tremendous performance by both men, who were clearly out to put on a classic, and succeeded. Maybe a record number of knockdowns. Such a great match that the fans scream Vader after the match even though he just beat their hero and took his title in the process.
ISKA Welterweight Title: Danny Steele vs. Bouy Chowaikun. Bouy wins title.
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Mark Silver. Sakuraba had much better technique, but gave up a lot of weight to the portly Silver. Ok match with Silver dominating and getting way ahead on points, but Sakuraba going over in the end.
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Yoshihiro Takayama. Takayama actually looked good for a few seconds as he came out all fired up and went for the kill. Kanehara was really impressive here and made the match. His strikes were good, and they opened up a cut on Takayama's lip. It went to a 20:00 draw, with both men collapsing at the bell. Surprisingly, a pretty good match.
Yuko Miyato vs. Tatsuo Nakano. Slow match with a lot of feeling out and looking for an opening. Too short considering it took a long time to get going. Fair.
Vladimir Berkovich vs. Naoki Sano. Nothing match. Berkovich brought nothing to the table.
Yoji Anjo & Steve Nelson vs. Kiyoshi Tamura & Dan Severn. Tamura & Anjo did some really nice fast sequences together. Match was dull when Nelson squared off with Severn and the crowd was completely silent for this. Anjo's palm strike gave Severn a really bloody nose, and the blood ending up dripping all over Anjo. Finish itself was great. Good match with Tamura looking really superior to the other three.
Masahito Kakihara vs. Jean Lydick. Disappointing match because these guys usually have so much heat with one another, but today they were basically friendly. Work and match were good though.
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Victor Zangiev. Very short for a Takada match, but it was quite good while it lasted. Exciting match with several teases of the big spots and very good technique.
Gary Albright & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Super Vader & John Tenta. Match was more to set up Vader vs. Albright than anything else. Gary made Vader submit to the jujigatame, which was just a waste, IMO, since Gary didn't really need the credibility bump and their singles match was the "dream match" that people wanted to see. I could see if they had higher ranked teammates, but Tenta was a newbie and Yamazaki was already booked into oblivion.
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Kenichi Yamamoto
Vladmir Berkovich vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara 5:34. Kanehara plays striker because he supposedly can't wrestle with the amateur star. Berkovich allows Kanehara to kick him full force, taking several wicked kicks to make the match. Unfortuately, once Berkovich gets a hold of Kanehara it's over without too much resistance. Good for what it was. **1/2
Dan Severn vs. Yoshihiro Takayama
Tatsuo Nakano & Victor Zangiev vs. Yoji Anjo & Yuko Miyato
Masahito Kakihara & Steve Nelson vs. Kiyoshi Tamura & Jean Lydick 16:19. Tried so hard to be realistic that they never got around to making it interesting. They didn't do anything wrong and it was credible, but there was so little action. It was like credibility was defined by not trying anything. Tamura likes to start slowly, but this never moved forward from that mode. **
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Naoki Sano 17:24. The question isn't how good of a match they could do; Takada's superhuman standing doesn't allow such considerations. It's how much Takada will allow Sano to compete, and the results were better than expected. Sano played the resiliant role, getting in brief trouble several times but coming up with something before Takada could put a run on him. Though Takada did more damage and lost less points because he doesn't concede many rope breaks, the match remained pretty even time wise. You never believed Takada would lose, but Sano would get him in submissions. Takada even bled a little. The work was very solid, credible and impactful, with strong though not all out performances by both. ***1/4
Super Vader & Big John Tenta vs. Gary Albright & Kazuo Yamazaki 14:07. All about building up the Vader vs. Albright singles match in January. Vader attacked Gary before the bell, and they wound up on the floor where they had to be pulled apart. The match then took a few minutes to start because Vader was demanding Albright, but Yamazaki kept telling Albright to yet him start. This led to an excellent opening where Yamazaki got himself involved in the match, made Vader take notice, by kicking Vader when he was taunting Albright to get in and fight him. Crowd started chanting Yamazaki and was psyched when he'd lay in the low kicks, blocking Vader's clubbing blows and staying outside when he could. Soon enough Vader got toYamazaki, but Yamazaki did well enough that Vader was the first to tag. Yamazaki stayed in for what seemed like a long time because he was so dwarfed and eventually took some big punishment (actually only 5 min), then Albright was in for quite a while. Albright was able to suplex Vader no problem, but obviously the quality went way down when he was in, particularly with Tenta who there was no heat on. Yamazaki made the hot tag and looked good against Vader again for a very brief period; he actually had more heat (or at least excitement and enthusiasm) on himself than there was for Vader vs. Albright (though of course the bookers didn't pay attention). Yamazaki couldn't get the big men off their feet and had to stay out of range, so he was relegated to kicking the whole match. He'd done big damage with enzuigiri counters, but Vader got wise to it and pulled him up right into a powerbomb. Started great, but the finish was highly anticlimactic. Yamazaki was typically excellent, incorporating good story points that the crowd would react to as usual. Vader & Albright were fine, having their moments but showing some weaknesses in between. They did enough yelling and taunting to interest the crowd in their match, but it's hard for them to work together because they are both monsters, thus there weren't huge reactions do their segment outside of one or two signature spots. Tenta didn't hurt the match, but he was basically just taking up space. They would have been better off having a smaller guy with Vader if only because when building a battle of monsters it tends to make sense to have the hugest guy in the match involved in those plans. ***1/4
Standing Bout (3 minutes 5 rounds): Bouy Chowaiken vs. Chris Mack
Tom Burton vs. Kenichi Yamamoto
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Yuko Miyato
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Yoji Anjo
Billy Scott vs. Tatsuo Nakano
Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Naoki Sano
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Dan Severn
Masahito Kakihara vs. Kazuo Yamazaki
Pro Wrestling Sedai Heavykyu Senshuken Jiki Chosen Ketteisen: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Gary Albright
*I have a very limited quantity of additional 1st Gen VHS available*
Standing Bout: Goon Yutacyai (?) vs. Rodney Blockfield
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Kenichi Yamamoto. Kanehara absolutely destroys Yamamoto in standup. Enjoyable, but just too quick and onesided to be that great of a match. *1/2
Tom Burton vs. Yoshihiro Takayama. *
Tatsuo Nakano vs. Bad News Allen. 1/4*
Yoji Anjo & Masahito Kakihara vs. Naoki Sano & Kazushi Sakuraba. Good action here. Much faster paced than the previous bouts, just constant movement. Kakihara was, not surprisingly, the best of the bunch. ***1/2
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Jean Lydick. Excellent technical match, but it just kind of ended about 5 minutes sooner than I wanted it to. ***1/2
Nobuhiko Takada & Billy Scott vs. Kazuo Yamazaki & James Stone (Little Guido). Don't blink.
Pro Wrestling Sekai Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Super Vader vs. Gary Albright. As is usually the case when two monsters collide, the match isn't too good because you realize just how important their smaller opponents are when it comes to taking the big bumps to get them over and make their matches work. They did some brawling and some wrestling, but their size negated each other so they never wound up delivering most of the big moves they teased. Adequate, but hardly the quality you expect from a "dream match." **
Tatsuo Nakano vs. Kenichi Yamamoto
Thomas Burton vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara
Yoshihiro Takayama vs. James Stone
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Yoji Anjo
Billy Scott vs. Yuko Miyato
Gene Lydick vs. Yuko Miyato
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Masahito Kakihara
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki
Kenichi Yamamoto vs. Thomas Burton. Kind of a dull match. Burton didn't give the young punk much respect, which I kind of liked Yamamoto always struck me as a guy who thought he was the shit even though he'd almost never done anything of note. Burton didn't have to use his best moves to win this one, which obviously didn't help. *1/4
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. James Stone (Little Guido). Kind of short and one-sided, but Kanehara always puts on a good show. The mat work was impressive, but Stone's overexaggerated selling hurt the standup segments a good deal. **1/4
Yuko Miyato vs. Jean Lydick. Lydick is a lot bigger and the better wrestler. It was short and he controlled the whole match. Disappointing. *1/2
Yoji Anjo vs. Tatsuo Nakano. These guys have fought so many times over the years and generally their matches are good, but this one didn't go anywhere. Essentially nothing happened but then there were a few strikes and a submission out of nowhere.
Kiyoshi Tamura & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Kazuo Yamazaki & Yoshihiro Takayama. Good technical match. It was one of those matches though where things are well done, but there aren't a lot of highlights. Nobody really stepped up their game. Even Takayama didn't look bad with these guys though. **1/2
Masahito Kakihara vs. Naoki Sano. Smart match. It was always interesting, but they didn't have to take much abuse. They did a lot of striking, particularly Kakihara, but they were blocking most everything. It wasn't just standup though, there was also nice movement on the mat. ***
Gary Albright vs. Billy Scott. Albright kept Scott in his clutches and threw him around when it could. This made the match alright to watch even though it was totally one-sided. The match was designed to rebuild Albright for his next big job (to Kakihara), and it succeeded well enough in that regard although the problem is it's not like anyone would think Scott could take Albright. Scott is way too small to wrestle with Albright and doesn't have the standup skills to do much there even though that's also a weakness of Albright's. *1/2
Pro-Wrestling Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Super Vader vs. Nobuhiko Takada. This wasn't as good as their 8/18/94 match, but it was smarter and also great. Takada used his speed & mobility to stay out of Vader's clutches and get his shots in when he could. He focused his attack on the left side of Vader's body. In particular, he used low kicks to Vader's left leg to chop him down like a tree. The strategy was simply, take away his power by relegating his base useless and go right for the udehishigigyakujujigatame when the giant crumbled to the canvas. On the other hand, Vader tried to cut off the ring. He wanted to grab Takada or push him back into the ropes/corner where he could manhandle him. Again, this wasn't a true UWF-I match, but Vader comes off so big and strong that his massive chokeslams and powerbombs aren't too unbelievable. Once again, the match was extremely high impact. Takada did a very good job of bumping for Vader, while Vader was impressive putting over the damage of Takada's low kicks. The match was all action, but the psychology was excellent in part because they did a match that maximized the abilities of both performers. The Vader vs. Takada series is one of the big reasons I always felt that UWF-I title matches were the best when it came to aura. They always had a great pre match, but they way the guys fought and intensity they brought always made the title seem so coveted. Vader showed his respect for the title and the legends that believed in it before the match, but at the same time he never considered doing anything less than whatever it was going to take to beat his opponent and keep the title. In a way, his cheating almost showed a respect for the belt and his opponent because in a match of lesser magnitude he would simply run over a poor sap without having to resort to any shortcuts. My only problem with this match was the finish. The KO blow just wasn't very credible. I wish Vader got back up and they did a little more before going back to the same or a similar strike for the finish. It was a very anticlimactic way to end such a quality series, but I guess it was fitting of the way things were going for UWF-I at the time. ****1/2
Kenichi Yamamoto vs. James Stone. Decent opener. Yamamoto actually showed some potential even though he tended to get out of control. He got Stone really good with an errant spinning high kick. His enzuigiri was nice. Stone's selling was too exaggerated for this style. *3/4
Hiromitsu Kanehara & Tom Burton vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Kazushi Sakuraba. Kanehara & Sakuraba worked well together as expected. Kanehara only did striking with Takayama, so it was passable. Takayama did decently throwing knees, but couldn't do anything else right. Burton was solid. **1/2
Tatsuo Nakano vs. Jean Lydick. I thought this could be good, but they didn't work well together and the match was lifeless. Lydick looked pretty good except when he had to fall to the mat. Nakano wasn't particularly giving, so the match never turned into anything. *1/2
Naoki Sano & Billy Scott vs. Yoji Anjo & Yuko Miyato. More spectacular than the previous matches, largely due to Anjo. It wasn't as realistic, but when it comes to UWF-I excitement over realism is a tradeoff that you don't mind. Scott was a kicking bag, especially for Anjo. Sano's team was getting slaughted early due to Scott, but it wound up going down to the wire. Lots of nice kicks and suplexes. Everyone did a good job. ***1/4
Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Kiyoshi Tamura. Tamura's execution was easily the best on this show. He brought a precision and intensity that was peerless. They showed a lot of respect for their opponent's abilities, so neither man rushed into anything. The match was technically excellent, but very much toward the realistic side so there were barely any UWF-I highspots. The match was good and the best on the show, but I expected something more dramatic. ***1/4
Gary Albright vs. Masahito Kakihara. Albright neutralized Kakihara's kicks by grabbing him immediately and only releasing after he'd driven him into the mat with a suplex. With his amateur background, Albright had little problem outwrestling Kakihara. Kakihara did a great enzuigiri just after 10, but Albright charged right at him as soon as he got up and used knees to set up a suplex that almost knocked Kakihara out and left him down to his last point. With Kakihara still reeling, Albright charged in and tried to do the same thing, but this time Kakihara turned the German suplex into a kneebar for the submission. The win showed Kakihara's resourcefulness and set him up for the big main event with Takada, while keeping Albright strong by having him dominate the whole match. Too bad they waited until the promotion was almost dead to build a new native up to the point where he could have a big match with Takada, and did it in a fashion where it seemed like his only chance against Takada was a fluke. ***
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Joe Malenko. I don't know what these guys were thinking, but for some reason this was all on the mat. In over 21 minutes we didn't see one strike land in standup. Instead, one guy would lay on top and work over the arm. The match wasn't technically bad, but it was pretty damn boring. *1/2
Kenichi Yamamoto vs. Steve Nelson
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. James Stone
Hiromitsu Kanehara & Billy Scott vs. Tatsuo Nakano & Jean Lydick
Joe Malenko vs. Yuko Miyato
Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Yoshihiro Takayama
Naoki Sano vs. Yoji Anjo
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Gary Albright
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Masahito Kakihara
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Kenichi Yamamoto
Tatsuo Nakano vs. Steve Nelson
Yoji Anjo & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara & Masahito Kakihara
Naoki Sano vs. James Stone
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Joe Malenko 18:14
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Kenichi Yamamoto.
Steve Nelson vs. James Stone.
Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Tatsuo Nakano.
Naoki Sano & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Joe Malenko & Yoji Anjo.
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Masahito Kakihara 6:20
Hiromitsu Kanehara & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Tokimitsu Ishizawa (Ka Shin) & Tadao Yasuda (NJ team)
Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Kenichi Yamamoto
Billy Scott vs. Naoki Sano
Tatsuo Nakano vs. Kensuke Sasaki (NJ)
Yoji Anjo & Masahito Kakihara vs. Riki Choshu & Yuji Nagata
Kenichi Yamamoto vs. Shinjiro Otani (NJ)
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa (NJ)
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Koji Kanemoto (NJ)
Naoki Sano vs. Hiro Saito (NJ)
Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Kensuke Sasaki (NJ)
Masahito Kakihara & Tatsuo Nakano vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Akira Nogami (NJ)
Yoji Anjo vs. Masa Chono (NJ)
Kenichi Yamamoto vs. James Stone
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Billy Scott
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Takashi Iizuka
Naoki Sano vs. Tokimitsu Ishizawa
Tatsuo Nakano vs. Riki Choshu
Masahito Kakihara vs. Tadao Yasuda
Yoji Anjo & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Tatsuo Nakano vs. Kenichi Yamamoto
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Kazushi Sakuraba
Shinjiro Otani (NJ) vs. Masahito Kakihara
Muay Thai Rules: Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Chanpa Gennsoritto (sp)
Yoji Anjo & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Kazuo Yamazaki & Takayuki Iizuka (NJ team)
Yuhi Sano vs. Keiji Muto (NJ)
IWGP Heavyweight Title: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka (HI)
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Kazushi Sakuraba
Tatsuo Nakano vs. Yoshihiro Takayama
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Kengo Kimura
Masahito Kakihara vs. Akitoshi Saito
Yoji Anjo & Kenichi Yamamoto vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi & Akira Nogami
Nobuhiko Takada & Yuhi Sano vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Michiyoshi Ohara
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Kazushi Sakuraba
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Akira Nogami (NJ)
Yuhi Sano vs. Kenichi Yamamoto
Tatsuo Nakano vs. Koki Kitahara (WAR)
Yoji Anjo & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Hiromichi Fuyuki & Gedo (WAR team)
Masahito Kakihara vs. Shiro Koshinaka (HI)
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (PWFG)
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. James Stone. Stone was greatly overexaggerating his selling of strikes, as usual. Very good match when it was on the mat, which is where it was after the first minute. Kanehara made a few great moves, but it was just too short. *3/4
Masahito Kakihara vs. Billy Jack Scott. Theme match where they agreed not to strike. This sounds like a waste of Kakihara, but there was some really fine and more modern (i.e. Tamura) matwork. Perpetual motion with constant countering early then slowing down some when they started hooking submissions. ***1/4
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Koki Kitahara. Even though it's similar to what he regularly does in pro style, Kitahara was a little out of his element because he's not used to doing it shoot style. I though he would strike more to make up for it, but I'm not sure he struck as much as usual. Sakuraba controlled most of the match, and was definitely the better of the two. Enough talent in the ring to make it good, but I'm sure they could do a lot better if Kitahara did this style regularly. **1/2
Yuhi Sano vs. 200% Machine. Nothing much happened. 200% was somewhere in between Greco Roman and shooting, and very methodical at both. *
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Arashi. Takada is so patient that it makes him seem all the more explosive when he unleashes his strikes. Arashi doesn't have the right approach much less the talent, but this turned into an exciting match even though it wasn't the most believable. Takada had a good idea turning Arashi's shotei into and udehishikigyakujujigatame, but it turned out clumsy. Short but Takada looked very good after the feeling out period. **
WAR Nintei Sekai 6 Man Tag Senshukenjiai: Yoji Anjo & Yoshihiro Takayama & Kenichi Yamamoto vs. Hiromichi Fuyuki & Jado & Gedo. Very stiff pro-wrestling with lots of double teaming from Fuyuki's team. Anjo's team beat the hell out of Fuyuki's team all match because they are the "shooters", to the point of it being a massacre. Fuyuki bled immediately and his partners soon followed. This had some comedy as well with Anjo attacking Fuyuki with an octopus, as well as some brawling like Anjo's team using the title belts outside the ring. Fuyuki's team did their usual double team spots like the stuff powerbomb off the 2nd. Generally entertaining match even though it made no sense to have this as the main event of a show that was otherwise worked shoots, and losing to guys that don't do "real" fighting killed whatever myth the UWF-I guys had left. **3/4
150% Machine vs. Koki Kitahara
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Rene Rooze
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Billy Jack Scott
Yoshihiro Takayama & 200% Machine vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Arashi
Yoji Anjo vs. Naoki Sano
Nobuhiko Takada & Masahito Kakihara vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Dutch Windmail vs. Kenichi Yamamoto 5:34
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Tiger Maduro 7:10
The Great Kabuki & Tokeru & Benkei Daikokubo vs. Kishin Kanabata & Shigeo Okumura & Gekko 14:44
Tiger Mask (Sayama) vs. Gran Hamada 15:00
Kimo vs. Yoshihiro Takayama 1:16
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Masahito Kakihara 14:31
Genichiro Tenryu vs. Yuhi Sano 8:59
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Yoji Anjo 11:26
Sakuraba vs. Orihara, Tiger Mask Sayama vs. Cobra, Kakihara vs. Sasaki, Sano vs. Hashimoto, Takada vs. Tenryu
Debut Match: Ryuki Ueyama vs. Shunsuke (Daijiro) Matsui
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Billy Jack Scott
Shodai Tiger Mask vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa
Nikolai Gordeau vs. James Stone
Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Masahito Kakihara
Kenichi Yamamoto & Yoji Anjo vs. Nobuhiko Takada & Kazushi Sakuraba
James Stone vs. Shunsuke Matsui
Kenichi Yamamoto vs. Billy Scott
Tiger Mask (Sayama) vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Masahito Kakihara
Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Keith Dirody
Nobuhiko Takada & Yuhi Sano vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Yoji Anjo
Daijiro Matsui vs. Ryuki Ueyama
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Kazushi Sakuraba
Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Kenichi Yamamoto
Naoki Sano vs. Masahito Kakihara
Nobuhiko Takada & James Stone vs. Yoji Anjo & Billy Jack Scott
Daijiro Matsui vs. Ryuki Ueyama
Naoki Sano vs. James Stone
Yoji Anjo vs. Billy Jack Scott
Masahito Kakihara & Kenichi Yamamoto vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara & Kazushi Sakuraba
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Yoshihiro Takayama