Kazunari Murakami & Kohei Sato vs. Akira Joh & Keisuke Okuda (NEW, 7/7/17)

Akira Joh and Keisuke Okuda walked into the lion's den against boss Kazunari Murakami and his underling thug Kohei Sato. Try as they might, and they tried relatively hard...despite some of their strikes looking like cheeky kisses compared to the opposition...this was more or less an extended squash with Murakami throwing punches, headbutts, and a couple of judo throws in his strictly business attire. At one point, Sato shushed the crowd so that they could collectively hear the thunk of his headbutt. Whenever Joh or Okuda would sizzle a bit, they'd run into a big punch from Murakami. When Murakami finally strips off the jacket and dress shirt, he gets German suplexed on his head. But by this point in the match, Joh is wasted and crawls helpless into an STO from Murakami, who delivers a second STO to put the boys away for good. This was...something...but I'm always down for a good ole-fashioned beatdown and Murakami kicking ass in a trashy 1980's nightclub suit jacket is kind of amazing.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Kazuo Yamazaki (UWF, 4/15/90)

This ruled. You had Kazuo Yamazaki throwing strikes where he can, with the wily Yoshiaki Fujiwara weathering the storm to snag a limb and bend. He keeps turning the tables on Yamazaki, escaping his holds or countering with a hold of his own to force Yamazaki to the ropes. There are plenty of swank takedowns from both men but the patience and experience of Fujiwara proves to be an advantage over the more aggressive Yamazaki. At one point, Yamazaki is just kneeing the fuck out of Fujiwara's head to try and shake him off the arm but it's Fujiwara, dude, he headbutts for a living. Yamazaki's finally able to grab something, a single leg crab, but Fujiwara breaks the hold and is seemingly pissed off about it, unloading on Yamazaki in the corner with a flurry of old man strikes. He staggers Yamazaki with a slap but Yamazaki's able to deliver a German suplex, failing to bridge the hold as he's dog-tired. Fujiwara sells the suplex and when he's back on his feet, Yamazaki high kicks him in the head to lay him out for the KO. Yamazaki's post-match celebration is the buttercream icing on the cake.

Kazuchika Okada vs. Satoshi Kojima (NJPW, 7/27/17)

I've said it before but smug shiteating ace, Kazuchika Okada, is the best Okada. He brings much more personality to his match when he's turning the heel knobs up a bit and against the lovable Satoshi Kojima, you want to boo Okada along with the fans. The way he mock claps for Kojima, only to turn around and attack him. Or how he goads Tenzan and grins like a total dick when Tenzan's forced out of the ring. The shitty boots to Kojima's back as he plays to the crowd. There's a lot to love about his performance here and of course, it all builds to Kojima getting some payback. Kojima channels his partner with the Mongolian Chops. When he's machine gunning him in the corner, the look on Okada's face is priceless. Kojima's able to hit a top rope Koji Cutter and a brainbuster but it's that final stretch that solidified this as one of the more memorable matches in the tournament thus far. Kojima strips the elbow pad and goes for the lariat, but Okada ducks it, delivering the German suplex to set-up the Rainmaker but Kojimda counters with a lariat to the back of the head and when Okada tries for it again, Kojima blasts him with the lariat for a nearfall. He's able to duck another Rainmaker attempt, connecting with a rolling elbow, but the ace is able to tombstone Kojima to deliver the Rainmaker nail in the coffin. Great stuff. 

Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Takuya Wada vs. Koji Iwamoto & Tadashi Matsumoto (Hard Hit, 7/16/17)

These Hard Hit shows are often more misses than hits but every so often, you get a little gem of a match. I'm not familiar with Takuya Wada or Tadashi Matsumoto but these guys were the highlights of this match. Of course, Fujiwara still showed that he's the wiliest old man around, grabbing limbs and cranking guillotines when and where he can, ultimately picking up the token submission with the haragatame. Iwamoto looked pretty good here in this setting, utilizing some neat takedowns, including his judo throw, but he was sent to the ropes a number of times. When Matsumoto and Wada were in there grappling, it was awesome. Matsumoto rolling around on the mat, trapping body parts while Wada showed his strength with some throws. Just lots of cool takedowns and reversals. Wada was able to get a leglock and then transitioned it into a swank double leglock and later in the match, Matsumoto used a monkey flip on Wada to snag an armbar. This match ain't for everyone -- there's no striking, no big moves -- but it's always a treat to see Fujiwara on the mat and the other three guys brought the energy he may lack at 68-years of age.

Nobuhiko Takada vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (UWF, 2/27/90)

Nobuhiko Takada isn't the most exhilarating mat technician; his bread-and-butter is striking. He'd heat up the crowd with some of his kicks but then immediately cool them off by applying a very pedestrian leglock. Thankfully, Yoshiaki Fujiwara makes up for that, grabbing an armbar when and where he can and avoiding a lot of Takada's wild swings.  He's pretty great here as the wily veteran, hip-hopping Takada into a corner and blasting him with a headbutt, which serves as the real turning point in this match. Takada starts letting loose with the kicks, there are a couple of suplex throws from both sides, and the finish was pretty great, as Takada goes for one of his lame ass leglocks and Fujiwara counters with the cross kneebar and really cranks it in, sending Takada reeling, scrambling for the ropes and trying to peel Fujiwara off before finally tapping out. Fujiwara's post-match old man celebration is about as good as the match itself.

Konosuke Takeshita vs. Keisuke Ishii (DDT, 7/23/17)

This was easily my second favorite KO-D Openweight title defense behind the HARASHIMA match from Judgement. Since having an underrated run with the AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Title, Keisuke Ishii has really become one of my favorite junior heavyweights in Japan and he brought his A+ game to Takeshita with some incredibly focused and aggressive neckwork, and excellent counterwork, seemingly having an answer to a lot of Takeshita's attempts. For an ace, Takeshita's selling is some of the best around and while I could nitpick the non-selling on the German suplex bridge, he still did a lot more to show the effects of Ishii's neckwork than most. Like most Takeshita defenses, he displays his dominance early on, clocking Ishii with an elbow and a big chair-assisted running boot on the outside. He shows off that core strength, delivering a suplex with Ishii fighting to escape, and I love his single leg crab with the kicks to the head and then just bending Ishii in half. 

Ishii's able to come back and hit his neckbreaker on the guardrail, which sets up his go-to limb-based strategy, and Takeshita proceeds to endure quite the beating, taking a German suplex on the apron, a motherfuckin' Ishii Driller, and a tiger suplex hold for a two count. Ishii tries to murder him with a top rope tiger suplex but Takeshita is able to lariat him off. When the champ attempts the Blue Thunder Bomb, he sells the neck and Ishii elbows him...Takeshita tries again and this time, Ishii counters with a DDT, following up with a sliding kick and a cradle double arm DDT for another two count. Takeshita's neck is just...fucked. Takeshita can't get anything off without a counter from Ishii but when Ishii goes for the Final Cut, Takeshita is finally able to plant him with a lifting reverse DDT. Takeshita's able to deliver that picture-perfect German suplex hold (insert neck selling) and after that, Ishii loses his momentum and all hopes at downing Takeshita, as he eats lariat, a running knee, and the Surprise Rose to go down. Perhaps Takeshita's final comeback felt a little rushed but overall, this was a blast with Takeshita continuing to show his versatility as current ace of DDT. 

Post-match, biggest boy Naomi Yoshimura cashes in his "Right to Challenge" armband after a surprise lariat and while he's unsuccessful in his attempt, he does powerbomb Takeshita through a table from the apron! 

Yuji Nagata vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (7/23/17)

Yuji Nagata has been busting his ass for his final G1 Climax appearance and this was easily his best match and performance of the tournament (and a personal favorite of mine). These two have great chemistry together. You had Tanahashi heeling it up with his limbwork, tossing the proverbial ace guitar out of the ring to focus on attacking the veteran's leg. Nagata was as spirited as ever, with the crowd firmly behind him. Tanahashi starts in on the leg, kicking the knee when he can and embracing the boos. Nagata fights through the pain to land some stiff kicks and slaps, his facials always so terrific. Tanahashi tries going after the leg again with the cloverleaf hold but Nagata fights him off, going after the arm and building to a big top rope Exploder. He tries to finish Tanahashi off with the backdrop but Tanahashi counters with a crossbody and once more cuts off Nagata at the knee. That final slap exchange is awesome, with Nagata getting busted open and his exhausted swings and misses before collapsing face-first on the mat. Tanahashi's able to put Nagata away with the High Fly but Nagata wasn't going down without a fight. Loved this match. 

Minoru Suzuki vs. Tatsuo Nakano (UWF, 2/27/90)

What a smutty little match-up here with plenty of handsy exchanges and agitated strikes. This has that drunken bar fight element to it, ugly at times but also effective. Nakano wrestles a very smothering style by rubbing his forearms in Suzuki's face and really cranking on the headlocks and necklocks. Suzuki at one point has had it and pummels Nakano with headbutts. The first down is terrific, as Suzuki's trying to block Nakano's headbutts on the ground but Nakano catches him and sends him reeling. Suzuki's leg crabs looked really brutal here and when Suzuki starts dropping knees, Nakano freaks and unloads a pissy flurry of strikes to knock Suzuki back down. For this style of match, While Suzuki sometimes appears a little lost, his selling is really pretty good, in that bewildered sense. He spikes Nakano with the piledriver and immediately starts stomping his head in and dropping more knees. Wasn't a fan of the double KO finish, at least the execution of it, but this was really good and uncomfortable at the same time.

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Osamu Nishimura (NJPW, 8/7/04)

This is a pretty neat little Nishimura formula match-up with Tanahashi holding his own against the veteran early on, really working a side headlock, supplemented with a couple of flashy moves, before going right back to it. When Osamu tries to work in his octopus hold, Tanahashi counters with a side suplex. The narrative here is the legwork, which is smartly introduced when Tanahashi gets tangled in the ropes and Osamu shoves the ref out of the way so he can attack the vulnerable leg. After a kneebreaker on the guardrail, Osamu puts him in the figure-four leglock back inside the ring. Tanahashi's selling is pretty great, especially when he's trying to charge Nishimura in the corner, which allows Nishimura to take him out at the knee with a dropkick. When Nishimura has him back in the figure-four, the desperate Tanahashi is grabbing onto the ref as Nishimura arches back to exert more pressure. The finish is...well, typical of Nishimura matches, seemingly coming out of thin air as Nishimura misses the diving kneedrop and Tanahashi capitalizes with a Shining Wizard and dragon suplex hold to put the veteran away. See-ya.

Hideki Suzuki vs. Ryuichi Kawakami (BJW, 7/17/17)

Sometimes a champ's gotta choke a fool to really cement his legacy as a badass. Big Japan has already done such a fantastic job of establishing Suzuki as the outsider, a volatile force of nature swallowing up the Strong Division and spitting out broken challengers. Suzuki already beat Kawakami at his game back in February so here, like in all of his title defenses, Suzuki forced Kawakami to play his game. But Kawakami wasn't really having it and what ensured was perhaps the most "shoot-style" of any match I've seen this year, full of violence and disdain. This was awesome in a lot of ways but, above all, it felt personal. The most personal of any of Suzuki's title matches. As defending champion, he was put into a lot of uncomfortable situations but he was equal parts the aggressor, sometimes sacrificing his honor to grind an elbow in Kawakami's forehead or throw the first slap. And this was easily Kawakami's best performance since returning from injury last year, having fully embraced the inner shithead with his grinning attitude. 

From the opening exchange, you get a sense of what's going on here. They test the waters, looking for the right opening, and when Suzuki gets it, he takes down Kawakami, slaps him and grinds the elbow in his face to establish dominance. Kawakami answers back with slaps, spits at Suzuki, and nonchalantly works a top wristlock. When Suzuki regains control with a full nelson, Kawakami walks into the ropes to break the hold but Suzuki stays right on him, right in his face, until Kawakami slaps him again, smiling. There are plenty of cheap shots thrown from both opponents, the added jabs and smacks, but Kawakami was the big jerk here. At one point, Suzuki has to elbow him off of him while they're on the ropes but Kawakami still sneaks in an elbow of his own to further piss off Suzuki. Or he's straight-up punching Suzuki in the corner. The striking in general is about as stiff as it comes, with Kawakami's nose getting busted open at some point. 

Suzuki's the clear mat technician but Kawakami brings a real gruntiness to his matwork and there's a real sense of struggle for control. I thought the pacing and the placement of the big moves was organic -- if you have an opening, why not hit a dragon suplex hold? Suzuki even busts out a fucking hurricanrana -- not the prettiest one ever but totally unexpected. He tries for the double arm suplex but Kawakami starts squirming so Suzuki hooks his leg and starts cranking on him with a hold. Kawami wails on Suzuki with a bunch of hard elbows but the second he tries for the Hurricane Driver, Suzuki knees him in the head and quickly shuts him down. When Kawakami survives the double arm suplex, Suzuki smiles, almost as if to say "you really should've stayed down", and then promptly destroys him with elbows and puts him to sleep like a bad, bad dude, throwing Kawakami out of his ring as he's handed his crown. Unstoppable. 

The post-match interaction with Daichi Hashimoto was terrific as well, setting up a future title match between the two. I'm hoping Suzuki's able to pull a big time performance out of Hashimoto similar to what Okabayashi did for Kamitani last year. I love this match. It felt like a fight from beginning to end. I get why people may not like this style of match, or Suzuki's style in general, but this felt unlike any other BJW World Strong title defense and I'm happy Big Japan is letting Suzuki do his thing. 2017 is definitely his year. 

Koji Kanemoto vs. Osamu Nishimura (NJPW, 8/8/04)

Similar to the Minoru Suzuki, this match sees Osamu Nishimura's spellbook constantly countered by Koji Kanemoto, who works with this perpetual shit eating grin. He's pretty great here with his fakeout spins, reversals, and overall cocky demeanor. He overwhelms Nishimura with kicks, primarily targeting the leg, but also figuring in a couple of facewash spots. There's a point in the match where the ref tries to prevent Kanemoto from attacking Nishimura on the apron...so Kanemoto leapfrogs the ref, dropkicking Nishimura, before following up with a plancha. Osamu can't catch a break as Kanemoto seemingly has an answer for everything. Osamu eats a corkscrew senton to the face and then Kanemoto really digs in with the legwork, with some terrific selling from Osamu. Kanemoto slips out of the backslide attempt, kicks Nishimura in the head and slaps on the grapevined ankle hold.  Koji lands his moonsault press for a nearfall and counters Osamu's roll up by grabbing the injured ankle and bending it...but in true Osamu fashion, he's able to pin Kanemoto's shoulders to the mat to pick up the win. A solid match with a little bit of slop.

Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki (UWF, 2/9/90)

This match picks up toward the middle after some failed shoot ins and feigned kicks during the early portions of the match. Takada uses some neat, almost impromptu suplex throws to counter Yamazaki's lock up attempts and Yamazaki uses a swank leg takedown but can't get the hold cinched in before Takada escapes. But the striking is the bread and butter of this match. Yamazaki starts rocking Takada with kicks against the ropes but all it takes is one high kick to the grill to down Yamazaki. They trade strikes, pick up a couple downs, before Yamazaki targets the leg with kicks and leglocks. There's some good selling from Takada here and he's able to catch a foot, headbutt Yamazaki, and blast him with another boot to the face. In the end, Takada staggers Yamazaki with a few slaps and a single leg takedown, working in a single leg crab and then transitioning into the full crab, cranking back to submit Yamazaki. Real good second half.

Minoru Suzuki vs. Osamu Nishimura (NJPW, 1/4/04)

A short and sweet little affair between surfer dude Minoru Suzuki and Osamu Nishimura, with Suzuki hyper vigilant with his armwork, snatching it at any given opportunity. After a clean break in the corner, Suzuki reminds Nishimura who he is with a smack across the face. Oh boy. They work the mat a bit, running through some counters and reversals. When Nishimura tries for his patented headstand escape, Suzuki snags the prone arm and lays back with a cross armbreaker. Simple but awesome. Suzuki continues to target the arm with kicks and stomps but Nishimura catches a stray, taking him down with the dragon screw legwhip and going into the spinning toeholds to set-up the figure four. But when he goes for it, Suzuki counters again into another armbar. He delivers the Gotch-style piledriver but opts for the submission attempt instead with a reverse armbar. Nishimura's able to survive and tries a few desperate roll ups but on the final backslide, Suzuki seizes the arm with yet another cross armbreaker. The dude's on fire...until the end, when he tries for another takedown and Nishimura's able to pin him with the backslide. Suzuki at his best here.

Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano (NJPW, 1/31/90)

Whether it's bashing fools with rudo chaisrshots or lapping up the babyface sympathy juice, Jushin Liger knows how to elicit emotion from the fans. Here, having only a crimson mask of blood to hide his face, Liger not only puts in one of the best performances of his career, selling Sano's asswhippin' like he's about an inch away from heaven, but he still manages to maintain that same aura and mystique that's synonymous with Jushin "Thunder" Liger. The way he's able to remain hidden from the cameras behind the tatters of his mask is some real deal in-ring awareness. If there's anything to nitpick, perhaps that it's Liger's selling, or lack thereof, when he's on the comeback, going full-speed with dives and headscissors, and ultimately, making quick work of Sano after having been beaten down for roughly 80% of the match. Sano's able to deliver about every suplex variation in the book, including his game-ending tiger suplex hold, which Liger's barely able to break with a foot on the ropes.

I mean, Liger asked for this ya'll....he said "fuck your handshake" before the bell and bitchslapped Sano across the face. Visually, this is an awesome but frightening match - for example, there's a moment where Sano throws Liger almost lifelessly into the corner pad, leaving a smear of Liger's blood on the white padding. Each time Liger begins to build momentum and speed, Sano's able to cut him off. After taking out Sano on the outside with a beautiful tope con hilo, Liger hits the tilt-a-whirl backbreaker to set up the Romero Special but in a terrific counter, Sano rakes the exposed eyes of Liger to escape the hold. Later on, Liger's able to take Sano down with a headscissors but when he tries to follow up the attack, Sano back bodydrops clear over the ropes to the outside! Liger can't catch a break until literally the last two minutes of the match, when he sneaks in a flurry of offense, including a German suplex hold, a Liger Bomb, and a sweet tombstone piledriver, finally pinning Sano with the move he innovated pre-Liger, the Shooting Star Press. This is right up there with Liger's all-time great arm selling performance from the 8/10/89 Sano match. An awesome match.

Jun Akiyama vs. Osamu Nishimura (NJPW, 8/11/03)

This wasn't quite at the same level as the Takayama match for me but it was still a good match, with an especially well-sold performance from Jun Akiyama. Gone is Nishimura's slicked back hair and he's now sporting a fresh buzz for the 2003 G1 Climax. This took a little while to get going as the two go through a few counters and reversals on the mat while looking for an opening. Akiyama takes over on offense with a DDT on the apron and then piledriving Osamu onto the floor to set-up the neckwork. His stuff looks pretty brutal, whether it's the stunner on the ringpost, the stalling piledriver, or the way he viciously cranks on a facelock. Nishimura's subsequent legwork is pretty aggressive too. He kneebreakers Jun onto the timekeeper's table and follows up with a diving knee drop from the apron. He lands another diving knee back inside the ring, setting up the figure-four legwork with a couple of spinning toeholds. Akiyama's selling of the leg is fantastic as Osamu dropkicks his knee out from him and reapplies the figure-four, this time arching back to exert more pressure on the hold. When Akiyama sidesteps a missile dropkick, he goes back to the neck with a dragon sleeper and there's a really awesome moment where he counters the Japanese rolling clutch with a choke sleeper, eventually transitioning into his front necklock. He's able to connect with the high knee > Exploder combo but when he goes for another knee in the corner, Nishimura's able to cradle him for the pinfall in a bit of an upset. Not as nuanced as the Takayama match but still some really neat stuff with Akiyama being the standout here.

Stan Hansen & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu (AJPW, 12/6/89)

Oh boy, this tag match has it all: tons of hot saves, hot tags and a hot crowd, a heargeared Yatsu throwing suplexes, shitkicker Stan Hansen throwing his brisket-fed weight around, and the pissed off of Jumbo and Tenryu. All four guys really delivered here, putting in great performances. Oh, and Hansen going to retrieve Tenryu on the outside was a nice touch. They really bully Yatsu around, with Hansen removing the protective headgear to drive home the knees. Love how Hansen falls into his clobbering strikes. When Yatsu's finally gets some leverage on Tenryu, Tenryu's able to tug on the trunks to prevent Yatsu from getting too close to the ropes. He finally hits a German suplex and the fans are buzzing for the tag to Jumbo, who comes in fired the fuck up. Hansen takes a beating from Jumbo, selling the exhaustion on the irish whip before taking a backdrop, but the tide turns and Jumbo finds himself on the receiving end of some double teams.

On the outside, Yatsu's getting his head taped and makes it back just in time to break up a pin attempt in an awesome little moment. He busts open Hansen with a running bulldog on the exposed concrete and gets the hot tag from Jumbo, exacting some revenge on the Texan with plenty of headbutts. He hits another bulldog but Tenryu interferes, giving Yatsu some dirty kicks to the head while he's in there. Jumbo's had it and he starts beating the hell out of Tenryu in the corner and the crowd is lit! Yatsu and Hansen slap it out and Hansen catches him square in the grill with a kick but when Tenryu tries for an assisted enziguri, Yatsu ducks and Hansen gets caught. Jumbo hits a diving high knee but Tenryu's there to break up the cover and gets some cheap shots off on Jumbo. Amid all the chaos, Hansen finally hits his big ole lariat on Yatsu and when Jumbo tries to make the save, Tenryu grabs his trunks, allowing Hansen to score the pinfall. Awesome tag with a super hot final five minutes.

Osamu Nishimura vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (NJPW, 8/10/02)

Another fantastic performance from Osamu Nishimura, who gets to showcase his technique against lurch Yoshihiro Takayama. Nishimura's in-ring awareness in this match is phenomenal with his reversals and escapes. He has an answer for whatever Takayama's posing, to the point where a frustrated Takayama sits up after Nishimura counter like "how I keep him down?". There's a lot to love in this match, from Nishimura's run-around reversal or his many bridging escapes -- always having another option in the back pocket. Takayama working the mat is fun but he mostly lays around while Osamu goes to work on him. Nishimura does a good job of keeping the big man down and focusing on the legs to neutralize Takayama's big kicks. Love Osamu's sickle hold but Takayama plays a good counter of his own.

He finally says fuck the grappling and starts kicking Nishimura but when he tries for the big boot in the corner, he gets hung up in the ropes and Nishimura attacks with elbows, hitting a diving knee to set-up the figure-four leglock. And when Takayama reaches the ropes, what does Osamu do? Drags him to the middle, gives the leg a couple of spinning toeholds, and puts the figure-four right back on, bridging this time to put more pressure on the hold. When he's not laying there, Takayama's in-the-moment selling and facials are really good but it's short term.When Nishimura starts kicking the leg, Takayama smacks the shit out of him and hits a pair of belly-to-belly suplexes. After a couple of more counters, Takayama is finally able to snatch Osamu and pin him with the German suplex hold. The finish came out of nowhere but also made the msot sense for the cat-and-mouse game they played throughout.

Bob Backlund vs. Daisuke Ikeda (BattlARTS, 10/5/98)

It's always a blast watching Bob Backlund in this "shoot-style" environment, especially against a bruiser like Daisuke Ikeda. Here, he stooges around for most of the first half until they start slapping each other and Ikeda headbutts him out of the ring. Backlund's selling of the headbutt is the best kind of comedy, as he collapses into some of the fans in the first row while Ikeda mocks him in the ring. Backlund's able to reverse an abdominal stretch into a big ole double arm suplex and in true Backlund fashion, he powers up out of an armbar and sets Ikeda on the top rope...only to get leveled with a flying lariat. Backlund hits his big running atomic drop and a piledriver and while they fight over a chicken wing, Backlund scores the pinfall with the European clutch. A fun easy, breezy watch.

Hideki Suzuki & Yoshihisa Uto vs. Ryuichi Kawakami & Kazumi Kikuta (BJW, 6/28/17)

Now, this is how you build to a title defense. This was a really good K-Hall tag match with great transitions and plenty of heat between Suzuki and Kawakami. Suzuki really wants Kawakami early on but Kawakami feeds him Kikuta instead. Since Kikuta's changed up his ring gear, he's really been impressing me with his ability to take a beating...I mean, Suzuki's clawing his face, slapping and kicking at him. He elbows the arm to set-up the armwork section for Uto and Uto fills in the black for a bit before Kawakami comes in, suplexes him onto his knee, and kicks him over to Suzuki. Hideki comes in suplexing and when he puts on the octopus hold, he really sells the effort to apply it, first grinding his elbow into the spine to get the arm, then manipulating the wrist to be able to trap it. In the details, man.

 Kawakami kicks Suzuki in the grill and then starts in with some hardass chops. Suzuki tries to block them so Kawakami starts punching him instead! Loved the elbow exchange -- some real hard shots from both guys. Suzuki manages to hit a Robinson-style backbreaker...and then just clubs Kawakami out of frustration before collapsing. Kikuta gets to shine a little bit against Suzuki in the end but Suzuki shuts him down, hitting the scoop tombstone and then that awesome falling elbow strike. In a great moment, Kawakami hits the big elbow on Suzuki and wants the tag from Kikuta to finish off the champ but Suzuki cuts off the hot tag, snatching Kikuta in a full nelson, wearing him down before hitting the dragon suplex hold, using it as a submission to finish Kikuta off. I'm loving these suplex hold submissions. Before this match, I was lukewarm on Suzuki/Kawakami at Sumo Hall but I'm all in now. Can't wait!

Osamu Nishimura vs. Hiro Saito (MUGA World, 8/2/06)

Osamu Nishimura is someone who deserves a lot more love. In our modern energy drink-fueled world, I can understand why a guy like Nishimura can't quite capture the short attention spans of the "more is more" pro-wrestling fanbase. He's so detail-orientated and methodical that if you aren't paying close enough attention, you'll miss out on some of the more clever nuances. Same thing with a guy like Hideki Suzuki, who gives every little movement meaning. Nishimura is a fantastic conveyor of struggle and exhaustion and I think against a bruiser like Hiro Saito, it works so well. Saito immediately wants to get Osamu out of the ring and onto his chair-swinging thug level but this is MUGA World, Hiro. Saito's armwork is real grunty and he uses his head and knee to exert more pressure on Osamu. The standing surfboard escape sequence was fun and when Osamu's finally able to reverse it, Saito just walks over into the ropes to break the hold. Osamu's alternating side headlock wrenches are great and he makes really smart use of the Irish whip to get Saito back into the headlock.

Saito starts working over Osamu's neck, often using the ropes a lot to guillotine him, but when he tries for a piledriver, Osamu uses a back bodydrop hold to try and pin Saito down. Osamu goes after the leg with some awesome elbow strikes to the knee and the final few minutes of the match see him cranking away on Saito, using a sickle hold and these cool falling elbow strikes to Saito's knee. Saito's in the moment selling was really good here. After Nishimura misses a diving knee drop, Saito delivers a German suplex hold but the injured leg gives out so he delivers a second German and is able to maintain the bridge for the three count. A cool finish that came out of nowhere. This was definitely a "less is more" type match but the crowd was into it and it's definitely worth checking out.

Masaaki Mochizuki & Kota Ibushi vs. Munenori Sawa & Hayato "Jr." Fujita (Indy Summit, 12/31/06)

Uh, I guess the best way to describe this "special" match-up is manic and sloppy strike porn. I mean, right from the get go, you had Sawa and Ibushi slapping and kicking away like two angst-ridden teenage girls. There are intermittent periods of ground game in between the stiff pissing contests but really, they mean squat here. You got Fujita blasting a provoking Ibushi with stiff kicks to the chest but when he signals for something devastating, Hayato picks up Ibushi, scoop slams him, picks him up again and then tags out. Dumb. Sawa was his terrific self with the hard smacks and Mutoh tribute spots, which included two Shining Wizards to Ibushi and Mochizuki. At one point, Ibushi stops selling Fujita's strikes and then destroys him with his wild lanky kicks and slaps and a German suplex. In the end, a busted open Fujita tries to submit Mochizuki with the K.I.D. but Mochizuki rolls through the final attempt and hits the Twister and a pair of high kicks to pick up the TKO victory. A glorious little clusterfuck of a match that doesn't quite know when to stop.

Bob Backlund vs. Masakatsu Funaki (UWF, 5/21/89)

Bob Backlund in Japan, in UWF specifically, is a riot. He’s such a goober -- such a pro-wrestling caricature as if Elmer Fudd was a former NCAA Champion. The way he sells Funaki’s kicks, whoa-ing and scuttling around. When Funaki cranks on the kneelock, Backlund casually bends Funaki’s leg and reverses the hold into a reverse Indian deathlock. He’ll fling Funaki off with this “gee, what’d I get myself into here?” expression on his face, only for Funaki to continue pelting him with kicks.  His takedowns are erratic and somewhat impulsive, the strike exchanges are chaotic between wild misses or hard wallops. No-nonsense Funaki is especially vicious with his feet, stomping his way out of holds and high kicking Backlund in the head. After Funaki grounds Backlund with an armbar takedown, Bob leg muscles up through the hold and sets Funaki on the top rope, seemingly pissing him off. Funaki then gets himself disqualified with a top rope dropkick, of course. What a show.

Katsuyori Shibata vs. Riki Choshu (Riki Pro, 9/3/05)

For the last of Katsuyori Shibata's sabbatical matches, we head to Riki Choshu's vanity promotion, Riki Pro, where Shibata had a fight against the big boss himself (also a tag match with Yuki Ishikawa -- is this somewhere in the dark web?). There was a cool chaos brewing in this match that never quite bubbled over into a full-blown violent pandemonium. Shibata hops out of the ring to attack Choshu, taking him to the back of the arena for a private PK ceremony, throwing chairs at him, kicking the snot out of him while he's helpless on the ground. Once it gets back into the ring, though, the match settles into something kind of forgettable. Shibata tries wearing Choshu out on the mat with holds until Choshu dumps him on his noggin with a backdrop, sits up, calmly fixing his hair, before beating on Shibata until the finish. He snapmares Shibata over the ropes in a cool spot and his first big lariat looked brutal enough to end the game...but no, it took six more to put the rabid Shibata down. Not bad but not quite the fight you'd hope for.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Osamu Nishimura (MUGA World, 9/25/06)

In the age of purple Mountain Dew and 100% marshmallow Lucky Charms, this is a match I could see the modern wrestling fan hating. Two Japanese dads heating the crowd up with sometimes tired matwork, slow reversals, and zero high spots. But this is a throwback between teacher and student, and while Fujinami isn't near his peak...at all...Nishimura steals the show with his well-sold performance, intuition, and sense of struggle. I loved the way the figure-four played such a central role in this match, with Nishimura scouting it early on and turning the attempt into a small package to pick-up a fall. He goes after Fujinami's arm, supplementing holds with elbow strikes, but really, the story being told is based around Nishimura's leg and Nishimura playing defense. He cracks Fujinami with a desperate kick to the leg and in a moment of delayed selling, Fujinami crumbles...but it's not enough and Fujinami evens the score with a figure-four leglock submission. Nishimura's selling during the final fall is fantastic and he's able to block the succeeding figure-four attempts, finally reversing the third attempt to submit Fujinami in a...well, odd finish, as Nishimura had been working on the arm primarily but you could tell Fujinami's knees weren't in great shape. A charming match that was fun to revisit.

Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano (NJPW, 9/20/89)

This felt more like a "greatest hits" montage, with some neat callbacks to their previous two matches, but never really finding its rhythm or structure. They go in and out of the junior prom stuff, working the mat in between, but the groundwork isn't nearly as important as their August match and serves more to fill in the gaps. There's a little bit of testiness from Liger early on with some of his kicks but it goes away and the final half is mostly exhibition, with tons of piledrivers, including an awesome jumping tombstone from Liger. Liger also suplexes Sano to the floor and hits that gnarly diving senton from the top rope to the outside! They tease the double dropkick spot, Sano's able to hit a German suplex hold but Liger counters the super backdrop finish from the second match. Liger's last ditch effort is a rounding body press but after Sano throws him off the top, he slips over into a tiger suplex hold for the clean victory and Liger still can't beat Sano. Solid match but not it didn't feel as personal between the two -- more of a "going through the motions" rematch.