Nobuhiko Takada vs. Bob Backlund (UWF, 12/22/88)

Bob Backlund, in UWF, looking bewildered as ever but somehow managing to pull it off, with his "whoa whoa-ing", his silly taunts, and his vicious elbow shots to counter Takada's stiff kicks. Backlund's quirkiness adds charm to the match,  a fun, almost unpredictable element that distinguishes this from a lot of other "shoot-style" bouts of the 80's. I won't go through the whole match because at times, it's all over the place, but there are so many cool touches and moments. When Backlund is on the mat, working the arm, he throws his weight into the hold. He has answers for Takada's offense -- at one point, taking a rush of knees from Takada and turning into a backdrop before immediately going into a reverse armbar and forcing Takada to use another rope break. Once Backlund's nose is bloodied, his intensity level picks up and his elbows are some of the best thrown. The work on the mat becomes more desperate, the strikes less yielding. One of my favorite moments of the match comes when Backlund uses a fireman's carry slam to put Takada in leglock and Takada responds by heel kicking his way out of it. He really takes it to Backlund in the final minutes with his kicks, using a belly-to-belly slam to set-up a calf slicer, turning that into a single leg crab. With Backlund's face a crimson mess, Takada slaps on the double wristlock, the match ends, and Backlund's like "what the heck?" -- great, great stuff. Watching Backlund fight his way out of this giant predicament of a match was a blast.

Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kazuo Yamazaki (NJPW, 9/1/87)

This is a good companion piece to the May tag match, with the same intensity and hot exchanges. From Fujiwara and Maeda working holds to Yamazaki and Takada trading stiff kicks, this match has all the components of a raucous shoot-style bout. I loved Fujiwara in this -- his ability to take a beating from the opposition is one of his hallmarks but he does his fair share of dishing out the revenge slaps and headbutts. I thought Maeda looked really good here, especially in his interactions with Yamazaki, whether its catching a kick and dropping down into a leglock, snapping off a belly-to-belly suplex or sweeping the leg in a beautiful counter. At one point, he hits what looks like a capture buster! In the final minutes of the match, Takada is blasting Yamazaki with some nasty kicks, landing a few to the head and face, but when he tries for a big rolling solebutt and can't hit all of it, Yamazaki scores the pinfall with a quick German suplex hold. If you liked the May match, you'll probably like this match -- in fact, I think I enjoyed this a bit more.

Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kazuo Yamazaki (NJPW, 5/25/87)

Wild, unadulterated shoot-style action between four of the best. I mean, you’ve got Yamazaki with his sick lightning kicks, Takada and Maeda kicking and suplexing all day long, Fujiwara with his slaps and headbutts, at one point, re-injuring a bandaged Maeda, busting him open. There’s almost zero down time, which is kind of what you want from this type of match. Maeda can be a phone call away from a shitty performance but he was really fired up here, especially after seeing red. He had some slick suplexes, including a dragon, and I loved the hot finish between he and Yamazaki – it exemplifies shoot-style perfectly. He first stuns Yamazaki with wheel kicks, plants him with a capture suplex, and then submits him with the crossface chickenwing. See-ya. Heated exchanges, stiff as day old catshit strikes, sweet suplexes. Loved this!

Hideki Suzuki vs. Takuya Nomura (BJW, 4/10/17)

This is the master Hideki Suzuki at work, the teacher schooling the student. In the past, the Suzuki/Nomura matches played out like sparring sessions but this was the most "shoot-style" of the series. It was a glorious squash as Suzuki is all over Nomura like white on bread and Nomura is outmatched in about everything but his kicks, which he doesn't really get the chance to show off. Suzuki was in dominant, no shits given champ mode, grinding his taped wrists across Nomura's face, getting heat from the crowd for covering Nomura's mouth with his hand or teasing a straight choke. When Nomura cries out, it sounds legitimate as Suzuki bends and twists him to his will. There's a great spot where Suzuki hooks Nomura's leg in order to pry him open from his defensive position to apply a choke sleeper. When he rolls Nomura up for a two count, he catches the leg Nomura kicked out with and immediately starts manipulating it. There's no choreographed fluidity to it. Each hold looks like it's a struggle to apply.

They did a really good job of getting the crowd invested in the matwork, with the fans hopeful Nomura can get something on Suzuki.  When nearly gets a cross armbreaker on him but Suzuki uses his head to break it and spoil the crowd's anticipation. Finally, Nomura starts laying in with the kicks but the smart champ gets to a corner, then drops down to the mat to bait him in. Nomura starts kicking at Suzuki on the mat and in a nice little callback, tries and misses with that leaping double stomp. At one point near the end, Suzuki eases up on Nomura and as they fight over a leglock, he tells Nomura to fight harder. Suzuki finally ends the suffering, taking him down with the double wristlock and submitting him. I loved this. I probably enjoyed this more than most based on who was involved in the match but it felt authentic and it's fun to see a dominant Suzuki shooting on his baby-faced student.

Dick Togo vs. Daisuke Sasaki (DDT/DAMNATION Produce, 4/14/17)

A 30-minute Ultimate Submission match featuring Dick Togo. That's really all you need to know. Togo puts on one of his best performances since returning to wrestling, at least from what I've seen of his work, with Sasaki's weasel heel shtick kept to a minimum (minus the obligatory referee interference). Both men sold well but Togo really shined as he largely fought from underneath, working in some hot comebacks and taking the champ to the limit. Good back-and-forth groundwork to open as each man tries to assert control over the limb of their choice while also teasing the crossface hold. Togo hones in on Sasaki's left arm, using a swank neckscissors with an armbar and tenderizing it for the first submission fall via a chickenwing. Really good selling from Sasaki here as Togo continues the attack, snagging him in a bodyscissors and applying the sleeper to score another submission. 

After some thumping chops from Togo in the corner, Sasaki's able to stop Togo's momentum with a thrust kick to the face and a DDT. He works over Togo's leg and there's a fantastic visual of Togo crawling around on the mat, trying to avoid Sasaki. Loved Sasaki's top rope elbow drop to the back of the knee and the follow-up figure-four leglock, with Togo trying to resist, grabbing the hair out of desperation and looking for a reversal only to succumb to the pressure and give up. Sasaki stays on him, countering out of a Pedigree attempt and catching him in a reverse figure-four to even the score. When Togo's finally able to hit the Pedigree after failing to lock in the crossface hold, his slow ascent to the top is well-sold and allows Sasaki to utilize the referee as a foreign object. The action spills to the floor and back inside, Togo misses a crucial enziguri and Sasaki snags an ankle. Smart counter by Togo but Sasaki gets him in the crossface hold, rolling back to the middle of the ring and trapping the arm to quickly submit him, taking the lead. 

They trade slaps and punches and Togo destroys him with a lariat before hitting the Pedigree > Senton combo and submitting him with the crossface hold to bring it back to 3-3. Togo hits an awesome somersault plancha through the ropes as the clock winds down. They try a few failed crossface efforts and in the end, Togo's able to snag the champ with a cross armbreaker but time expires before he can score the winning submission and the match ends on a draw. Time limit draws can go either way but this one thankfully goes the right way, thanks to the performances of both men, especially Togo. Between this and the first Sekimoto/Suzuki match, time limit draws are ruling in 2017. 

Kazuchika Okada vs. Katsuyori Shibata (4/9/17)

Hands down, New Japan's best match of the year and my personal MOTY for 2017. Such an impassioned performance from Shibata, putting his life on the line (perhaps literally) to try and defeat the easily frustrated Okada, who tried to man up to Shibata's stiff ways only to get beaten down in glorious fashion. I mean, from start to finish, this was Shibata pissing all over Okada's gold rug. From the early matwork, with Shibata hiking his leg just because he can, to the Rainmaker-tease into a straight bitch slap, Shibata made Okada his bitch for nearly 40 minutes. Quasi-heel champ Okada was great here, drawing the ire of the NJPW fans with his dirty breaks, which only further fuels Shibata's stiff-as-fuck beatings. Was it a perfect match? No. I mean, it could've benefited from a little fat trimming, especially in the midsection of the match, but the build to the finish was well-executed, with Shibata working the Rainmaker arm to weaken the impact and in perhaps the most spectacular (and cringe-worthy) moment of the match, Shibata withstanding the Rainmaker and thunking Okada with that blood-busting headbutt.

When you put Okada in a different situation, he becomes so much more enjoyable to watch in the ring. He had to fight for every one of his signature spots, even though some of his offense looked pathetic compared to the heat behind Shibata's elbow strikes, and his selling during the submission teases really added a dose of drama to the bigger narrative. I loved his little temple flareups throughout. But this was Shibata's match, the way he goads Okada into striking with him, the zero respect boot scrapes to the back of the head. The no sold "strong style" rush of back-and-forth offense was pulled off so well, with Okada unable to follow up after that German suplex. Okada takes one hell of a beating here, getting dumped on his head a number of times with suplexes. I don't how he keeps doing it. The wrist play stuff was excellent, with Shibata holding on as he just drills him repeatedly with those kicks to the shoulder. Such a brutal visual accompanied by those shotgun acoustics. I thought it would've been awesome had Shibata dropped down into the cross armbreaker but Okada was able to take over control of the wrist and pull him into a weakened Rainmaker. The final nail-in-the-coffin Rainmaker looked absolutely nasty but I loved how Shibata was still trying to fight back, going for an elbow as he gets hooked with the killer final blow.

The crowd was hot for Shibata and this was a career performance for him as he put his body on the line for our enjoyment. It was hard to watch him try to make it to the back on his own post-match knowing the full extent of his injuries but that's Katsuyori Shibata for you. There was so many little things to love about this match, simple things, like Okada trying to block the figure-four attempt or Shibata's British-inspired counters in the first few minutes. Hell of a performance from Red Shoes, as well. Great, great match.

Hideki Suzuki vs. Daisuke Sekimoto (BJW, 3/30/17)

This was a condensed version of their time limit draw from earlier in the month, with the same sense of struggle and sluggishness in the back half as they clobber away at one another. Suzuki once again displays his awesome in-ring awareness, turning a stalemate test of strength into a small package hold or the way he manipulates Sekimoto's fingers in order to lock him in the stretch plum.  Even when Sekimoto manages to escape, Suzuki stays on him with a cravate, holding onto it after Daisuke tries to slam his way out, and then working that into a neckbreaker. He does such a good job of staying on Sekimoto, not giving him much room to breath if any.

When neither man can find an opening, they begin throwing 'bows and forearms and chops. There's a great counter by Sekimoto, dumping Suzuki to the outside, but when he tries for the follow-up dive, Suzuki catches him with an elbow to the chin. Suzuki's offense rules. He hits a top rope overhead suplex, connects with some straight up nasty elbow strikes, and I love his dragon suplex > deadshot elbow combo. Sekimoto was great here too, selling Suzuki's strikes so well. I love how he uses a sleeper to distract Suzuki, allowing for the German suplex hold. In the end, Suzuki stuns Sekimoto with an enziguri and hits his beautiful double arm suplex for the well-deserved win. I can't wait to see what Suzuki does with the belt. He feels like such a special attraction and when he's wearing the purple trunks, you know he's got his working boots on.

Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki (UWF, 9/11/85)

If you like shooty stuff or if you liked their match from '84, then this is your jam, especially the second half, when they're trying to submit, outstrike and outsuplex each other. The early portion of this match ends in, more or less, a stalemate as they trade kicks and knees and scramble around the mat for control. At one point, Takada knocks down Yamazaki with a kick but he's unable to capitalize. Kazuo's finally able to stun Takada with a solebutt and then blasts him in the face with a kick. He becomes a pitbull at this point in the contest, sinking his teeth into Takada with strikes, hitting a German suplex hold and going right into the submission hold. Takada's able to fire back with strikes of his own, crumpling Yamazaki with a kick to the gut, and he stays on him like white on rice. Before long, they're both unloading with some really brutal offense, trying to get that ten count or submission. Yamazaki is able to make back to his feet before the 10 but finally, a well-placed kick to the midsection from Takada is enough to keep him down for the count. Really good stuff.

Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu (AJPW, 8/31/87)

This is Jumbo working in dominant fashion, with Tenryu fighting to get in every lick of offense. He tries to wear Tenryu down with a hard-hitting onslaught of moves, including an awesome diving knee strike, and that recurring Cobra Twist. Tenryu gets in a knee here or an armbar takedown but Jumbo's in control early on. Tenryu is able to pull off a German suplex hold and powerbombs Jumbo a little too close to the ropes. Late in the game, he starts picking apart Jumbo's leg, surviving a pair of backdrop suplexes, before the action spills outside. Tenryu tries to take him out with a kneebreaker onto the time keeper's table but Jumbo is able to make it back to the ring. However, after they trade enziguris, Jumbo finds himself tangled in the ropes and can't get back to his feet before the referee calls for the bell, awarding Tenryu the victory. A good-spirited showing from Tenryu against the more experienced and confident Jumbo.

Nobuhiko Takada & Akira Maeda vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Keiji Mutoh (NJPW, 3/26/87)

This was a whirlwind of non-stop, no nonsense action, with plenty of stiff kicks and suplexes from Team UWF. I mean, the selling is non-existent but there's little to no downtime. This builds from their 3/20 match with Takada being a little more on the ball when it comes to Koshinaka's wiliness. After Koshinaka catches a foot, Takada slaps his way free and blasts him with a back kick to the grill. Maeda suplexes everyone around the ring, including dumping Koshinaka on his noggin with a belly-to-belly. Mutoh pulls off the moonsault press for a fired up crowd but it's not enough to beat the strikers. Koshinaka tries for a few roll-ups but Takada is able to counter an attempt with a cross kneebar and Koshinaka has no choice but to tap out. A fun, suplex-happy match with everyone poppin' up and hittin' moves.