UWFi (1991)

Continuing the thread of promotion guidebooks, here's UWFi in its 1991 debut year.

Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Masahito Kakihara (UWFi, 5/10/91)

A cool little match-up. I loved how Kakihara faked like he was going to just grapple with Tamura before he unleashes his traditional flurry of strikes. Tamura shows off some skill on the mat but again, Kakihara’s hands are all over him like fly swatters. When he does get some breathing room, Tamura’s in-ring awareness is shines through, as he’s constantly grabbing limbs, settling into holds and avoiding the bigger blows from Kakihara to get a takedown. When Kakihara misses the big spinning heel kick, Tamura stays on him with knees to the ribs and a nasty shot to the face. When he starts swinging for the fences, missing wildly, Tamura coolly takes him down with a belly-to-belly slam. Kakihara finally grazes him with another spinning heel kick and follows up with another that squarely hits the mark. He then applies a front necklock, deadlifting Tamura with almost a brainbuster. The exhaustion faction plays into the finish of the match, as Kakihara is sluggish, trying to trade kicks with Tamura, and Tamura catches a leg for a takedown. Kakihara’s able to counter with a leglock of his own, but Tamura re-counters and Kakihara taps out.

Kazuo Yamazaki & Tatsuo Nakano vs. Yoji Anjoh & Yuko Miyato (UWFi, 5/10/91)

This was a lot of fun. Nakano spent the early minutes shielding himself from Miyato's quick hands and Anjoh's elbows. He does get off a nice throw>elbow to the back of Anjoh's head before he tags in Yamazaki. Yamazaki and Anjoh mostly fight for holds on the ground, which is fine, but when Miyamoto destroys Nakano's nose during a spat of palm thrusts, the match really settles in for a great bumpy ride. Nakano's pissed and retaliates with a German suplex. When Yamazaki tags in, he immediately high kicks Miyato in the head. Whenever Nakano and Anjoh are in there, they're sneaking in dirty elbow shots to the head -- Anjoh really gives it to Nakano at one point. Yamazaki's selling during the finish stretch where he's just taking punishment from both Miyato and Anjoh was really good.

Tatsuo Nakano vs. Yoji Anjoh (UWFi, 6/6/91)

This turned into quite the dirty scrap, as Anjoh stayed aggressive throughout this match, smashing Nakano's nose during a barrage of stiff shots. A bloodied Nakano manages a full nelson suplex on Anjoh, but then Anjoh locks in the choke sleeper, Nakano's blood smeared across his arm, and Nakano tries to fight out but ultimately taps out. And Anjoh doesn't let go. What a dick.

Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Yoji Anjoh (UWFi, 7/3/91)

This match is great. Tamura is already so good early into his career, having only wrestling eight or so matches prior to facing Anjoh. He's slick as catshit, utilizing his speed to his advantage -- I mean, it's hard to even keep track of him at times. Anjoh can't do too much on the mat without Tamura managing to slip out and away. He'll grab an arm and Tamura will maneuver his legs around to get back to a vertical base, controlling Anjoh with a front facelock. While Tamura keeps going back to the rear naked choke, Anjoh targets the leg throughout to set up the finish. But there's just so many cool little moments in this match. At one point, Tamura rolls through with an armbar attempt and Anjoh catches the leg but Tamura simply stands up out of it. When Anjoh isn't going after the leg, he's throwing knees. He repeatedly knees Tamura in the back of the head but Tamura doesn't let go of the arm, slipping out to his feet and smacking Anjoh. Tamura's front necklock counter with the go-behind into the rear naked choke was a thing of beauty. Then he just starts stomping the back of Anjoh's head, putting the fear of God in him. By the end, things aren't quite as silky as they're both fighting over holds and avoiding takedowns. The referee doesn't do shit when Anjoh grabs Tamura's hair as he's trying to turn him over into the crab hold. In the end, all that legwork pays off for Anjoh as he's able to crank on a sick single leg crab hold for the submission victory.

Nobuhiko Takada vs. Tatsuo Nakano (UWFi, 7/3/91)

Fun match. Takada was able to avoid the German suplex throughout, but there were some fun teases and transitions, with Nakano grabbing the rear naked choke and rallying the fans behind him. Match really picks up when Nakano rushes him against the ropes with strikes and snap suplexes him. Takada's kicks looked good, Nakano's underdog defense worked well -- I especially liked the catch into the calf hold and then turning that into a pretty nasty side headlock on Takada.

Tatsuo Nakano vs. Yuko Miyato (UWFi, 7/30/91)

This was actually a lot of fun. Things get really heated in there at times with their strike exchanges and, like pretty much every match, Nakano's nose gets busted. There is a lot of good counterwork and takedowns, and when Nakano's pissed, he dumps Miyato with the German suplex. There's also a point where he almost capture suplexes Miyato out of the ring as things escalate in violence. A good little Nakano showcase and a strong finish with the choke to win. Really good stuff.

Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Billy Scott (UWFi, 7/30/91)

This was short and semi-sweet. Scott looks like such a dope with his mullet and singlet but when he comes out hot and heavy with the palm thrusts and knees, he becomes more of an asskicker dope. I thought there was good struggle on the mat, even though Yamazaki looked like he was going through the motions at times, and I liked Scott's out-of-nowhere backdrop into the elevated single leg crab. Yamazaki adds a little spicy mustard to his kicks toward the end, and Scott trying to build momentum to the German was cool, only to get German suplexed in turn and choked out with the front guillotine.

Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Tatsuo Nakano (UWFi, 9/26/91)

A fun contrast of styles, with Tamura utilizing his smooth takedowns to stay on top of Nakano and look for an opening on the mat. The match takes a bit to get going but when Tamura goes for a double leg takedown, he runs smack into Nakano's classic reflex knee to the face. That gives Nakano a bit of confidence, as he starts trying to bulldoze Tamura down but of course, Tamura being Tamura manages to find a way to coolly reverse a hold or counter the attack. At one point, Tamura tries for a headlock takedown and Nakano grabs a rear choke – almost a crossface chickenwing – and drags him down to the canvas. Tamura continues trying to get holds on Nakano but the little meatball doesn't really budge...so he starts smacking him around instead, or dumping him straight on top of his head with a waterwheel throw. Nakano keeps fighting 'til the very end as he tries elbowing out of the hold before submitting.

Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Yoji Anjoh (UWFi, 9/26/91)

I liked Anjoh's early defense, avoiding the German and keeping Yamazaki on the ground. His leg trip into the Fujiwara armbar was neat. They spend most of the match on the mat before Anjoh starts laying into Yamazaki with knees and kicks for a couple of knockdowns. There's a weird spot where Yamazaki finally hits the German suplex hold and Anjoh looks to counter that with a double wristlock but then rolls off with some delayed selling. The finish was cool too, with Anjoh trying for the rolling kneebar and Yamazaki countering with the neck crank.

Yoji Anjoh vs. Billy Scott (UWFi, 10/6/91)

Billy Scott continues to find comfort in shoot-style and this was probably his best solo outing to date. But still has an awful haircut.They open with a mad scramble and Scott lets Anjoh know early on that he ain't taking any of his shit. He kicks Anjoh in the face when they're tied up on the ground and when they're back on their feet, they're flinging hands and going kind of nuts, which is great. The groundwork throughout is a mess but that doesn't stop Billy from trying. I really like his German suplex lift into the Rock Bottom and his arm-trap judo throw but he can't really follow up on the mat. He does throw some mean palm strikes though. In the end, Anjoh catches him with a nasty knee strike in the corner, throws him with a dope belly-to-belly, but on the mat, Scott rolls him up, fucks the finish and Anjoh ends up tapping to a weak-looking neck crank. Good match nevertheless.

Masahito Kakihara vs. Jim Boss (UWFi, 12/22/91)

A stiff little sub-five undercard treat with Slappy Kaki coming right out of the gate and swatting the hell out of Boss repeatedly. Boss doesn't really know what to do but gets some retribution by dumping Kakihara with a release German suplex and then running over and punt kicking him in the head. He shoves the ref aside and keeps pounding on him in the corner as the fans let him have it. Kaki slaps his way back in control and his final head kick KO to Boss looked scary.

Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Gary Albright (UWFi, 12/22/91)

A good match-up with Albright using his size and weight on the mat and Tamura, of course, using his finesse to get Albright on the ground for a submission. Albright at one point has Tamura's leg and Tamura is able to take him down with a slick kneebar transition. Albright keeps trying for this inverted necklock and he ends up snapping Tamura over with a necklock suplex>inverted necklock. Of course, he throws a few more suplexes and ends up KO'ing Tamura with a German.