Nobuhiko Takada vs. Akira Maeda (UWF, 6/21/90)

Fuck yeah, this has all the urgency and sense of struggle and survival of a high-stakes match-up, and Takada actually looked like a legitimate badass here, working smart to avoid Maeda's capture suplex. Right out of the gate, he fires off some slaps, blocking Maeda's retaliatory kicks and grabbing hold of a stray, turning it into an ankle hold, and then grapevine-ing the hold to force Maeda to the ropes. When they're on the mat looking for something worthwhile, Maeda's maneuvers himself into a front mount and unloads on Takada with slaps of his own. Maeda misses a spin kick and Takada's able to capitalize with a heel hook, using his foot to press Maeda's head back to prevent him from breaking the hold.

As I mentioned earlier, I like how Takada sits back when Maeda snags the leg for the capture suplex. He snaps on Maeda with some piss-quick slaps, catching him in the eyeball, then uses a waterwheel drop to set-up the single-leg crab.  Loved the closing stretch of this match, hot damn! Maeda shoves off the side headlock takedown, kicking Takada in the head and then using his foot to break Takada’s arm away in order to lock in the cross armbar...but Takada’s too close to the ropes! Takada catches another kick with an ankle hold, ducks the spin kick and again lays down to avoid the capture suplex, but Maeda's like "fuck you" and applies the kneebar to submit Takada. Awesome.