Yuki Ishikawa & Naoki Sano vs. Alexander Otsuka & Kazunari Murakami
Kazunari Murakami and Yuki Ishikawa have such good chemistry together -- Murakami's always coming out rabid and swinging, and the cooler Ishikawa is just trying to get the takedown and submission. Murakami is one of the few guys out there whose sloppiness actually adds to the match and his charm. I love the way Alexander Otsuka maneuvers around the mat and floats around his opponent (with Sano here) as he's constantly looking for an opening to suplex or a limb to snag. The brawling on the outside was awesome with Ishikawa jacking Murakami with these gnarly elbow shots and rolling around with him on the collapsed chairs. And when Murakami kicks Sato in the butt after the big dive and commentary lols...precious. I thought Ishikawa's deadlift German to Otsuka as he's crawling to his corner was incredible, and of course, Otsuka answers with a nasty release dragon. Oh, and Otsuka makes the best saves. Really good match that flies right by, despite the 30:00 time limit draw.
Daisuke Ikeda vs. Katsumi Usuda
A lot of stiff love, with Usuda opening the match with all these shitty little headbutts before trying to choke out Ikeda. Then he starts snapping off kicks, landing a couple of headshots to Ikeda, who stumbles around until he runs into a shot that knocks him flat. Really great hard kicks from Usuda throughout. Of course, Ikeda dishes it back, waylaying Usuda with a big right hand before clobbering the fuck out of him with a lariat on the ropes. Usuda spends some time going after the arm, doing a good job of maneuvering around Ikeda's escape or counter attempts to stay in control. Loved when Ikeda freaks out on him with his punts, stomps, and kicks. Really liked the finish too, with Ikeda grabbing the arm, rolling around into a Fujiwara armbar, and then laying on him with the choke sleeper until Usuda's eyes go white. Too bad this was clipped because this ruled.
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