ORIGINAL TAPES - OSAKA PURORESU THROUGH PANCRASE
5/5/99 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Masaru Seno vs. Yoshihito Sugamoto. Solid but unspectacular match. **1/4
Super Demekin & Kuishinbo Kamen vs. Police Me~n & Virus. Good work. Pretty much straight Lucha except it was fairly stiff. Kamen does a really nice sky twister press. Virus is the best of the 4. **3/4
Ultra Ace vs. Zacharius. Short nothing match. *
5/4/99 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Super Delfin & Masato Yakushiji & Masaru Seno vs. Dick Togo & Black Buffalo & Violencia. A very good match that was held back by some blown spots. The match started off spectacular, broke into a long sequence where the heals destroyed Seno causing him to bleed, but lacked the hot finish you'd expect from these guys. ***
5/5/99
Dick Togo vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa. Hoshikawa fought hard, but Togo was just too tough for him. The highlight was Togo putting Hoshikawa on two tables outside the ring then doing his patented diving senton off the top rope to the floor. ***1/2
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This tape is highlights of matches from 4/29, 5/1, 5/2, 5/3, 5/4 & 5/5/99 to music. They don't really waste any time and aren't afraid to show 5 minutes of a match if it's a main event type of match.
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This first hour of this tape is highlights of matches from 6/24, 6/26, 6/27, 7/2, 7/3 & 7/4/99 to music. The final half hour is a good Super Delfin vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa match.
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Highlights of matches from 7/24/99-8/20/99. The best angle is an 8 man tag match where the mysterious masked executioner who has been chokeslamming all of Justice (Delfin's army) then performing satanic looking rituals to them finally wrestles. They think they are all big and bad because the kick the crap out of him, but when they pull his mask off, it turns out it's their buddy Sugamoto, who had been put under some sort of spell that made him into L.O.V's slave, with his arms tied up and his mouth taped. Then the real executioner comes out, unmasks as Daio QUALLT, and chokeslam's all the faces.
Highlights of matches from 9/4/99-9/25/99. Features Demekin Theater and New Young Powers Tsubasa & Sugamoto Stop The L.O.V (Legend Of Violence), which highlights all those matches in order and has some of the pre and post match angles.
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Highlights of matches from10/2-10/17/99.
10/17 Osaka Komyo AM Hall : 16 Man Secret Game. This is what WWF calls the Royal Rumble. It was hardly a great match, but no where near as bad as the WWF versions.
10/24 Osaka Komyo AM Hall
Kuishinbou Kamen & Monkey Magic & Super Demekin vs. Dick Togo & Black Buffalo & Police Me~n. Kind of like early Michinoku with a more lighthearted start, but picking up with lots of big moves and flying. Heels did a good job of carrying this match, in particular Togo was making Monkey Magic look like a star. ***
Super Delfin vs. Daio QUALLT. QUALLT had pinned everyone in Delfin's army in singles and Delfin in tag against no losses, so this was a big match. They had a bunch of wrestlers at ringside to make it seem more important and dramatic. QUALLT has good potential because he's athletic for a "big" guy and already does some nice moves like the frog splash, but right now he's very inexperienced and pretty limited. Structuring was pretty decent considering QUALLT's limitations, and Delfin did a pretty good job, but it was dull in points because when QUALLT isn't jumping off the top rope his offense is pretty reminiscent of the plodding tall Americans. **
This tape follows Shiratori on her quest to win the newly created title. It highlights the five match series with La Diabolica that set her up to challenge for the title, showing the complete deciding match. It also highlights the five match series against Lady Apache for the new title, showing the complete final match. In between it shows her during private time, training, with her family (she has a sister, but she's not nearly as divine), etc.
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Highlights of matches from 11/6-11/28/99, including the QUALLT "face turn" and Black Buffalo winning the welterweight title from Delfin.
11/28/99 Osaka Umeda AM Hall WWA Super Welterweight Title: Black Buffalo vs. Super Delfin. The execution was much better than I expected. Not that these guys have problems or anything like that, but they aren't usually this stiff and crisp. Buffalo is a really good worker that lacks offense, but Delfin did some hot moves and pretty everything they did looked good simply because they did it the way it "should be" done. The main negative was there wasn't much to the finishing sequence. Once Delfin warded off QUALLT's run in, he did a few moves and pinned Buffalo to win his title back the first time he tried. ***1/2
3/17/00 Osaka Umeda AM Hall: Takehiro Murahama vs. Daio QUALLT. Daio actually fought shoot style. Murahama is so quick that especially with gloves on he ought to be able to throw some fast punches that have enough impact to be credible. He almost had a KO from some lame strikes when the lights went out. QUALLT spewed him when they came back on, disposed of the ref, and chokeslamed him with a bull rope. L.O.V came in and beat Murahama until Justice saved, but Murahama still decked Delfin rather than join him. The angle was much better than the match. 6:56. *
3/25/00 Osaka NGK Studio: Takehiro Murahama vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa. Fairly credible mixed match since Hoshikawa has all the Battlarts experience. Hoshikawa must have told Murahama to hit him because his strikes were definitely better here, though he still missed or grazed too many times. They kept it even for the first three rounds then did several big moves and near finishes in round 4. That style can work in a regular pro style match, but you never see near finish after near finish in a shoot. An enjoyable match with some definite problems. R5 1:30. ***
5/7/00 Tokyo Ota-ku Taiikukan Osaka Puroresu Senshukenjiai Ishu Kakutogisen 3 Minutes 5 Rounds: Super Delfin vs. Takehiro Murahama. It would have been better if it wasn't supposed to be a shoot, but Murahama (who still fought with gloves) had been built up huge as a "shooter" and this title win was designed to solidify him as a star (of course, you aren't much of a star when almost all your performances are before a few hundred people but at least they had over 2000 for their Tokyo debut). It was weird seeing a masked guy "shooting," but the match was still intense and had good heat. Although this doesn't compare favorably to some of the mixed matches that the U.W.F. guys have had like Yamazaki vs. Clarke or Maeda vs. Nielsen, Delfin deserves credit for totally altering his style so the match could have some credibility and integrity. he showed a lot more shooting prowess than I expected. It had it's share of holes, but it was both exciting and successful. **1/2
6/18/00 Osaka NGK Studio Osaka Puroresu Senshukenjiai Ishu Kakutogisen 3 Minutes 5 Rounds: Takehiro Murahama vs. Super Delfin. Delfin's positioning and transitions were surprisingly good. Since he's not well versed in this style they just burned through what he could do and got out. The match was entertaining while it lasted and didn't expose Delfin even though his offense isn't right for shoot style. 2R 1:27.
6/24/00 Osaka Umeda AM Hall: Super Delfin & Takehiro Murahama vs. Masato Yakushiji & Naohiro Hoshikawa. Fast-paced all action match that everyone contributed to and kept getting better and better. Murahama permanently switched from shoot style to PuroLucha style. This was kind of inevitable since he couldn't keep fighting Hoshikawa forever, but isn't it pointless to give a rookie the title for a month then have him change his style as soon as he loses it? Now it was like he was starting from scratch again. Murahama & Hoshikawa had developed better chemistry & timing, so they were now able to choreograph some kicking sequences. More importantly, Hoshikawa could carry him a lot better since Murahama was now doing his style. Murahama immediately looked better in his new style simply because he wasn't doing all those fake looking punches. 16:12. ***1/2
7/1/00 Osaka Umeda AM Hall: Super Delfin & Naohiro Hoshikawa & Takehiro Murahama vs. Black Buffalo & Daio QUALLT & Dick Togo. This was in the vein of the classic Michinoku tag matches as far as how it was structured and worked, though it was faster-paced and not as long. The extra two guys on one hand improved the quality over the previous match because the pace was increased and there were more dives, but QUALLT isn't made for this style and was the only guy that wasn't good. 16:43. ***1/2
7/22/00 Osaka Umeda AM Hall MURAHAMA TRIAL 5 1st Match: Takehiro Murahama vs. Black Buffalo. Murahama's transitions on the mat were really slick, and he was starting to get good at lucha segments. Match had a little of everything, even being pretty stiff due to Buffalo. Murahama was exciting but flawed, but Buffalo was real solid and did a strong job of carrying the match. He took most of the offense, which allowed Murahama to have hot spurts without exposing himself. The ending was kind of weak since there was a kickout at 2 1/2. QUALLT chokeslammed Murahama after the match to set up the next challenge. 15:28. ***1/4
7/23/00 Osaka Umeda AM Hall MURAHAMA TRIAL 5 2nd Match: Takehiro Murahama vs. Daio QUALLT. You know you've put together a bad match if QUALLT has to carry it. Daio, who has the dullest offense in PuroLucha, dominated the match. He actually did a pretty good job of putting Murahama over when he tried, but Murahama hadn't figured out how to use all his athleticism to make his opponent look better and that task was his main one for the match. They had one nice idea where QUALLT lifted Murahama up for his chokeslam, but Murahama high kicked him in the head. 12:21. **
7/30/00 Osaka NGK Studio: Takehiro Murahama & Tsubasa vs. Dick Togo & Black Buffalo. Togo was acting tougher, more dickish and arrogant than normal. He was really blasting Murahama. Tsubasa wasn't much of a factor except in double teaming. Good match, but Murahama's team was overmatched. 13:20. ***
8/6/00 Osaka NGK Studio MURAHAMA TRIAL 5 3rd Match: Takehiro Murahama vs. Dick Togo. Murahama was taking it to Togo with the shoot stuff, so Togo turned it into a brawl, piledriving Murahama through a table. Togo also put a chair over Murahama's face and jumped off the 2nd with a stomp. Murahama facebustered Togo onto a chair, but he was overmatched in this world and quickly succumbed to DICKMANIA. Good while it lasted, but now you have a guy that's less than 2 months removed from being the champ not even able to hang with your top guys. 7:01. **1/2
8/12/00 Osaka Umeda AM Hall MURAHAMA TRIAL 5 4th Match: Takehiro Murahama vs. Masato Yakushiji. Like the previous, this match started more towards Murahama's style then shifted to his opponent's. The difference is Murahama was able to get it back to his style. Good work, but not a lot of direction. Minute for minute the Togo match was better, but this lasted twice as long. 13:53. **3/4
8/13/00 Osaka Umeda AM Hall MURAHAMA TRIAL 5 THE LAST TRIAL: Takehiro Murahama vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa. Pretty much a worked shoot. Transitions and counters were nice, but the execution was a bit suspect, particularly some incredibly lame mount strikes by Murahama. 12:57. ***
11/6/00 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Takehiro Murahama vs. Super Delfin. Better than their previous matches. Murahama had improved a lot and it wasn't hampered by the mixed match style, plus Murahama was clearly better in Delfin's style at this point than Delfin had been in Murahama's. Murahama's kicks were solid and his transitions from submission to submission were really nice, especially since he didn't get as much help as he would from a ground guy. There was one extremely bad part where Murahama stumbled trying to do his tope con giro, bouncing off the top rope to the floor. He then slammed Delfin on the floor and reentered to do it again. Considering this was a bigger arena and the deciding match between the two, I expected a lot more build and drama. 16:24. ***
ReMIX 3min 5rd: Ikuma Hoshino vs. Mako Ogawa
Takako Inoue & Miori Kamiya vs. Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe
Osaka Puroresu Battle Royal Senshuken: Osaka Royal Rumble
Chikako Shiratori Intai: Chikako Shiratori vs. Rie Tamada
5 Min Bonus 3 Way Dance: Chikako Shiratori vs. Rie Tamada vs. Kumiko Maekawa
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Minoru Suzuki vs. Katsuomi Inagaki
Bas Rutten vs. Ryushi Yanagisawa
Yusuke Fuke vs. Vernon "Tiger" White
Yoshiki Takahashi vs. George Weingroff
Masakatsu Funaki vs. (Ken) Wayne Shamrock. These two were the two best on the show, and they were evenly matched, so it's not suprising that this was best match on the show. It's weird watching these early Pancrase shows so many years later because now everything does the distance, but here we had a 6:15 match that was nearly twice as long as anything else on the show.
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Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Joop Van Dam
Bas Rutten vs. Yusuke Fuke
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Ryushi Yanagisawa
Minoru Suzuki vs. Vernon "Tiger" White
Yoshiki Takahashi vs. Wayne Shamrock. Surprisingly excellent match. Takahashi put up a hell of a fight. *Special Price $15 or $20.50 with COOP or $37.50 on T-160 with FLASH 1, 3, 4 & 7*
Perfect 1 9/21/93 Tokyo Bay NK Hall
History of Masakatsu Funaki & Minoru Suzuki
U.W.F. 4/15/90 Hakata Starlanes: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Minoru Suzuki
Minoru Suzuki vs. Katsuomi Inagaki. Inagaki's debut
Bas Rutten vs. Ryushi Yanagisawa
Yusuke Fuke vs. Vernon "Tiger" White
Yoshiki Takahashi vs. George Weingroff
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Wayne Shamrock
Perfect 2 10/14/93 Tsuyuhashi Sports Center
Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Joop Van Dam. Exciting striking oriented match.
Bas Rutten vs. Yusuke Fuke
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Ryushi Yanagisawa
Minoru Suzuki vs. Vernon "Tiger" White
U.W.F. 11/29/89 Tokyo Dome: Minoru Suzuki vs. Maurice Smith
Wayne Shamrock vs. Yoshiki Takahashi. Takahashi took a lot of punishment, but he really put up a good fight here even bloodying Shamrock's nose.
*I have a limited number of additional 1st gen SP copies available for $18 or $23.50 COOP*
Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Vernon "Tiger" White
Ryushi Yanagisawa vs. Andre Van Den Oetelaar
Yoshiki Takahashi vs. James Mathews
Yusuke Fuke vs. Wayne Shamrock
Kick Rule: Maurice Smith vs. Minoru Suzuki
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Kees Besems
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Yusuke Fuke vs. Katsuomi Inagaki
Ryushi Yanagisawa vs. Vernon "Tiger" White
Minoru Suzuki vs. James Mathews
Wayne Shamrock vs. Andre Van Den Oetelaar
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Yoshiki Takahashi. Really good while it lasted, but the finish wasn't satisfying. Still it was a testament to how tough Takahashi is. Unfortunately, watching these old Takahashi matches really makes you realize how much of an underachiever he's been thoughout his career though.
*Special Price $15 or $20.50 COOP or $37.50 on T-160 with FLASH 1, 2, 3 & 7*
Perfect 3 11/8/93 Kobe World Kinen Hall
Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Vernon "Tiger" White. The good thing about shoots is two guys that are mediocre can still have an excellent match. This was not great technically, but both men were willing to do whatever it took to win. White rearranged Inagaki's face, and Inagaki was blown up and looked like he was going to keel over, but then he'd find it in him to regain control.
Ryushi Yanagisawa vs. Andre Van Den Oetelaar
Yoshiki Takahashi vs. James Mathews
Wayne Shamrock vs. Yusuke Fuke
Kick Rule: Maurice Smith vs. Minoru Suzuki
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Kees Besems
KARATE JAPAN OPEN '93 Tournament 1/31/93 Tokyo Budokan
2nd Round: Ryushi Yanagisawa vs.? Ishikawa
3rd Round: Ryushi Yanagisawa vs.? Ishihara
4th Round: Ryushi Yanagisawa vs.? Hiraoka
3rd Round: Katsuomi Inagaki vs.? Kane
Semifinal: Ryushi Yanagisawa vs. Ryuji Murakami
Perfect 4
ALL JAPAN KICK BOXING SPECIAL BOUT EVOLUTION 11/27/93 Toyky Bay NK Hall
WKO Tokubetsu Rule 2 minute 5 round: Ryushi Yanagisawa vs. Vitali Klichko
2 minute 10 round: Masakatsu Funaki vs. Maurice Smith. Awesome heat.
12/8/93 Hakata Starlanes
Yusuke Fuke vs. Katsuomi Inagaki
Ryushi Yanagisawa vs. Vernon "Tiger" White
Minoru Suzuki vs. James Mathews
Wayne Shamrock vs. Andre Van Den Oetelaar
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Yoshiki Takahashi
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Yoshiki Takahashi vs. Andre Van Den Oetelaar
Scott Bessac vs. Toon Stelling
Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Matt Hume
Bas Rutten vs. Vernon "Tiger" White
Wayne Shamrock vs. Ryushi Yanagisawa
*Special Price $15 or $20.50 COOP or $37.50 on T-160 with FLASH 1, 2, 3, & 4*
1/19/94
Yoshiki Takahashi vs. Katsuomi Inagaki. Pretty good match
Vernon "Tiger" White vs. Andre Van Den Oetelaar. Despite catching Andre low with a spinning savate and gouging him in the eye with a shotei, White wasn't even able to accident his way to victory. He really does suck.
James Mathews vs. Ryushi Yanagisawa. Total Yanagisawa domination. He would have beat Mathews in 10 seconds if not for the rope escapes.
Yusuke Fuke vs. Scott Bessac
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Bas Rutten. Funaki took Bas down so his strikes weren't an issue. About all Bas was able to do was punch Funaki in the face before Funaki put him in the ankle hold. Bas improved so much since these days that it's like, aside from his kicking, he's not even the same fighter.
(Ken) Wayne Shamrock vs. Minoru Suzuki. These two were very cautious. An interesting finish because it took about 7 seconds from the time the finisher was applied for Shamrock to get the rope escape, and by that time he was too hurt to continue.
5/31/94
Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Manabu Yamada
Matt Hume vs. Scott Bessac. Hume was very active. He was pretty much the only guy in Pancrase up to this point in time that used strikes on the mat to open up his submissions.
Bas Rutten vs. Yoshiki Takahashi. Takahashi's knee just gave out on him and he was unable to continue.
Yusuke Fuke vs. Toon Stelling. As Fuke was getting up, Toon punted him in the nose. Vicious, but also illegal and worthy of the DQ.
Kick Rule 3 min 5R: Frank "Animal" Lobman vs. (Ken) Wayne Shamrock. Shamrock just didn't have the training in this style. He was fair defensively, but Lobman was able to block or avoid what little Shamrock threw.
Tokubetsu Rule 3 min 5R: Maurice Smith vs. Minoru Suzuki. The first and third rounds were kick rules, except Suzuki could go for takedowns and submissions. The 2nd and 4th were Pancrase rules except there were unlimited rope escapes and knockdowns. The 5th round was "mix rule." This was back in the day when Mo was "just a kickboxer." It was interesting, but since there was no limit on the rope escapes, Smith did the smart thing and just dove for the ropes the second Suzuki got a hold of him.
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Gregory Smit
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7/6/94
Vernon "Tiger" White vs. Remco Pardoel
Manabu Yamada vs. Andre Van Den Oetelaar. Yamada was a bit quick for Oetelaar. He got good strikes in, causing Andre to bleed heavily.
(Ken) Wayne Shamrock vs. Matt Hume. Hume claims this match was a work. Shamrock didn't appear to be working, but it looked like Hume may have been throwing the match. Cool finish where Shamrock does an overhead belly to belly then went into a chickenwing armlock for the win. The thing that doesn't make sense is that Shamrock would beat Hume in a shoot so why risk the integrity of the company to get the same result?
Yusuke Fuke vs. Gregory Smit
Minoru Suzuki vs. Bas Rutten. Bas' strikes wer lethal.
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Jason Delucia
7/26/94
Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Vernon "Tiger" White. Nowhere near the goodness of their last fight, particularly because there was hardly any standup. White seemed to get better all of a sudden, at least to the point of passing Inagaki by.
Gregory Smit vs. Robert Bjornethun. Smit bled heavily from the nose.
Manabu Yamada vs. Matt Hume
Minoru Suzuki vs. Remco Pardoel. Pardoel had a big size advantage. Suzuki was much better in standup because he's so quick. Pardoel just kept going for the same takedown, but Suzuki had it scouted and it's hard to fool someone when you aren't trying many different things.
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Scott "Bam Bam" Sullivan
Yusuke Fuke vs. Jason Delucia
(Ken) Wayne Shamrock vs. Bas Rutten. Rutten was really good by this time. Shamrock controlled positioning, but Rutten wouldn't give him openings. When Bas did get caught, he somehow just refused to submit and was able to get out one way or another. The downside of this match was Shamrock was in riding mode too much.
*I have a limited number of additional 1st gen VHS available*
9/1/94
Gregory Smit vs. Katsuomi Inagaki
Vernon "Tiger" White vs. Richard Saar. This was good because White got some nice shots in.
Jason Delucia vs. Matt Hume. Even match. Both men had their moments. I thought Delucia could have been more aggressive, but even without being such, he seemed to tire after 10 minutes. Hume got a bloody nose.
Minoru Suzuki vs. Robert Bjornethun
Yusuke Fuke vs. Manabu Yamada. Highly competitive match. Both men kept going for submissions, and came close to winning on several occassions.
(Ken) Wayne Shamrock vs. Masakatsu Funaki
10/15/94
Scott "Bam Bam" Sullivan vs. Matt Hume
Vernon "Tiger" White vs. Robert Bjornethun
Manabu Yamada vs. Alex Cook
Jason Delucia vs. Bas Rutten
Yusuke Fuke vs. (Ken) Wayne Shamrock
Minoru Suzuki vs. Masakatsu Funaki. These two burst out of the gate. Very fast action with constant movement. The fans were really into it. Too bad it didn't last longer.
*I have a limited number of additional 1st gen VHS available*
12/16/94 King Of Pancrase Tournament 1st Round
Minoru Suzuki vs. Matt Hume. Good match. Both men were in control some of the time, trying submissions. Hume gave Suzuki a lot more trouble than I expected.
Jason Delucia vs. Thomas Puckett
Christopher Deweaver vs. Manabu Yamada
Bas Rutten vs. Frank Jaurez (Shamrock). Frank was better than I expected. He was often in control. Bas got some nice strikes in, but Frank was able to negate much of his striking ability by taking him down, where Frank was the better of the two.
Wayne Shamrock vs. Alex Cook
Maurice Smith vs. Yusuke Fuke
Vernon White vs. Leon Dijk
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Robert Bjornethun
2nd Round
Jason Delucia vs. Minoru Suzuki
Frank Jaurez vs. Manabu Yamada. Typical Frank match where they are constantly working on the mat. The advantage changed several times.
Maurice Smith vs. Wayne Shamrock
Vernon White vs. Masakatsu Funaki
12/17/94
Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Gregory Smit
Scott Bessac vs. Larry Papadopoulos. This is the only time I've ever seen someone in the guard get a KO from a punch to the stomach. Unreal.
King Of Pancrase Tournament Semifinals
Minoru Suzuki vs. Manabu Yamada. Really good technical match. They were always working.
Masakatsu Funaki vs. (Ken) Wayne Shamrock. Shamrock was just running through everyone in this tournament.
Tournament Final: (Ken) Wayne Shamrock vs. Manabu Yamada. Shamrock was always in control. Yamada's defense was good, but he had no chance for offense.
*I have a limited number of additional 1st gen VHS available*
Yusuke Fuke vs. Richard Saar. Fuke did an awesome uraken for the quick KO.
Takafumi Ito vs. Gregory Smit. Ito was in control and working, but he was pretty deliberate so it wasn't that hard for Smit to defend. Ito tried for submission after submission.
Frank Shamrock vs. Katsuomi Inagaki. Inagaki never did any damage or came close to winning, but he was a fairly tough out.
Masakatsu Funaki (#2) vs. Jason Delucia. Delucia put Funaki down once, but otherwise he was mainly on the defensive.
Rankingsen: Manabu Yamada (#1) vs. Bas Rutten (#4). Bas had Yamada trapped in a choke, but the ref couldn't see Yamada's face and Yamada wasn't tapping, so the ref couldn't tell how bad it was. The ref eventually stopped it, but Yamada was in it too long and his eyes were rolling to the back of his head. Luckily, he was okay after being out for a few minutes.
(Ken) Wayne Shamrock vs. Leon Dijk. Dijk was screaming in pain when Shamrock got him in the heel hold.
*I have a limited number of additional 1st gen VHS available*
3/10/95
Vernon "Tiger" White vs. Takafumi Ito. White is so good that he was being schooled by a rookie.
Scott Bessac vs. Osami Shibuya. Bessac dominated.
Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Alex Cook. The problem with leg submissions is that your legs are also there for the taking.
Yusuke Fuke vs. Larry Papadopoulos. Fuke gave Papadopoulos a killer knee to the balls, which really had Papadopoulos groaning. Fuke was better in standup, but this was not one of his better showings because the fight was mainly contested on the mat where Papadopoulos was better.
Manabu Yamada vs. Jason Delucia. Yamada was cut on the cheek from an open hand that mainly missed. A bit later, he got a nasty cut to the right of his eye that resulted in a doctor stop.
Minoru Suzuki vs. Gregory Smit. Suzuki had way too much trouble with Smit. He blew a few good chances to win. Smit was cut on a shotei.
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Frank Shamrock. Far from the classic you'd expect, but it was competitive. Funaki made too many mistakes. A young Frank was unable to capitilize though, while the more experience Funaki stayed calm and confident.
KING OF PANCRASE Title Match: Wayne Shamrock vs. Bas Rutten. Bas was too succeptible to takedowns, and Shamrock definitely had the advantage on the mat.
5/13/95
Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Osami Shibuya. Even fight, but neither guy was able to do much.
Takafumi Ito vs. John Renfroe
Frank Shamrock vs. Allan Goes. Best Pancrase match up until Bas vs. Funaki 9/7/96. All kinds of fast action, takedowns, and reversals. Tempers were flaring. At one point, Goes had Frank in the hadakajime, but Frank was able to make it to the ropes for the escape. Goes continued to choke Frank out though, refusing to break, so he was given a yellow card.
Yusuke Fuke vs. Gregory Smit. Fuke tried a dropkick.
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Alex Cook. Funaki controlled the match, but overall it wasn't one of his superior performances. Cook got a bloody nose.
Rankingsen: Manabu Yamada (#4) vs. Jason Delucia
Bas Rutten (#1) vs. Maurice Smith. Bas could have struck with Mo. It probably would have made for a great match, but there was no point since Mo was so inexperienced on the mat.
KING OF PANCRASE Title Match: (Ken) Wayne Shamrock vs. Minoru Suzuki. They had Shamrock drop the title because they were afraid of their champion losing to Royce Gracie at the upcoming UFC. Short match. They did a good job of acting like it was real. In particular, Shamrock had good facials. Neither guy really made contact during standup then it went to the mat where Suzuki quickly caught Shamrock in a submission.
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Takafumi Ito vs. Scott Bessac
Gregory Smit vs. Osami Shibuya
Vernon "Tiger" White vs. Larry Papadopoulos
Jason Delucia vs. John Renfroe
Rankingsen: Bas Rutten (#1) vs. Yusuke Fuke (#5). Bas was getting way better on the ground. All his opponents are forced to take it to the mat because none of them can match him in standup, but by this point they don't necessarily have the advantage once they get it to ground.
Minoru Suzuki (#3) vs. Frank Shamrock. Considering Suzuki was getting a title shot next month and Frank wasn't respected like the other guys that are near his calibre, this was not the time to put him in with Frank.
Manabu Yamada (#4) vs. Masakatsu Funaki (#2). Yamada was one of the better fighters in the early days since he was more experienced. That said, I didn't expect him to be the better fighter of the two on this day.
Takafumi Ito vs. Osami Shibuya
Manabu Yamada (#4) vs. Vernon "Tiger" White. Lots of near submissions here, particularly trading leg locks.
Katsuomi Inagaki vs. Toon Stelling. Stelling gets a yellow card for not breaking a submission quick enough then as soon as the ref turns his back to tell the judges to make the deduction, Stelling decides to start fighting again.
Masakatsu Funaki (#2) vs. Gregory Smit. Smit's nose bleeds like