Gary Albright vs. Tamon Honda (AJPW, 12/9/95)

Two dudes with amateur backgrounds chasing armbars and throwing suplexes -- yup, sounds fun. They tease Albright's German suplex throughout the match, up to the finish, and while he tosses Honda around early on with a couple of belly-to-belly suplexes, Honda got in quite a bit of offense against the bigger Albright. He hits his own front suplex, countering out of the German attempt. He snaps Albright over with back-to-back suplexes and tries to put him to sleep, hanging on to the hold as Gary tries to counter out of it. He gets a two count off of a double wristsault hold and the fans are rallying behind Honda. He's able to get to the ropes when Albright tries for the dragon suplex so Albright palm thrusts him in the face, slams him down and goes back tot he armbar, which results in a little dosey-doe of armbar attempts until Albright punches him in the face. He hits a cool front suplex, a German suplex, and Honda tries rolling away from Albright toward the ropes but Albright scoops him up and hits the German suplex hold for the pin. Sounds fun and WAS FUN!

Jushin Liger & El Samurai vs. Super Delphin & Takehiro Murahama (Osaka Pro, 5/29/01)

How can you go wrong when Jushin "Thunder" Liger and El Samurai are working dirty, rubbing wrist tape in eyeballs and breaking tag rules. Throw in a fiery babyfaced Takehiro Murahama with his stiff kicks and submissions and hometown Osaka hero, Super Delphin, doing what Super Delphin always does, and you're in for a treat. The exchanges between Liger and Muraham are the definite highlight of the match, and boy, does anyone hit a better tilt-a-whirl backbreaker than Liger? He also powerbombs the shit out of Delphin later in the match. At one point, Liger has Murahama in a leglock and Murahama's trying to slap his way out of it and Liger pokes him in the eyes! Classic heel. Samurai and Delphin are the weaker links of the match but Samurai does hit a sweet jumping piledriver on Murahama. Liger sells Murahama's submissions so well and really gets the crowd behind the younger shooter. When he's working the arm late in the match, utilizing the double wristlock against Liger, it's pretty great. In the end, he takes out Samurai with a somersault plancha which allows Delphin to hit a weak ass swinging DDT on Liger and a pair of shoteis for the satisfying victory.

Munenori Sawa & Ikuto Hidaka vs. Yuta Yoshikawa & Katsumi Usuda (BattlARTS, 2/7/10)

This is Yuta Yoshikawa's retirement from professional wrestling. Sadly, Yoshikawa had a short-lived career but boy oh boy, did he go out with a bang -- a lot of bangs. I remember watching this match when it first popped up online and it quickly became one of my favorite tag team matches...and it still is. These guys work an incredibly stiff pace for over 25 minutes and it's insane. Ikuto Hidaka working in a shoot-style setting is one of my favorite things to watch because the cat is super slick on the mat with his counters and his wily kicks. He and Katsumi Usuda focus on the submission attempts while Munenori Sawa and the retiring Yoshikawa kick the shit out of each other. The selling was really convincing throughout, especially from Hidaka and Yoshikawa, who takes an absolute beating but is still exhaustively swinging away. There are countless brutal strikes, nasty suplexes, including a big dragon from Sawa, and an emotional finish, as Sawa kicks Yoshikawa in the head and Yoshikawa struggles to make it back to his feet before the ten count. Instead of letting him get counted down and moving on with his day, Sawa stops the ref, urging Yoshikawa to get up and keep fighting.  And he gets up, he’s all fired up, slapping everyone, including his own partner, before he and Sawa thrash each other a bit longer and Sawa knocks him out with a punch. One of the best BattlARTS matches and a personal all-time favorite.

Munenori Sawa vs. Yujiro Yamamoto (BattlARTS, 8/30/09)

When it comes to the BattlARTS bati-bati-boys, I've always gravitated toward Yujiro Yamamoto, whose matwork and transitions were slick as catshit. Munenori Sawa can definitely hold his own on the mat and I actually prefer him working the ground as opposed to throwing baseball punches and Shining Wizards. Really good intense grappling to open with lots of reversals. There's a great moment when Yamamoto starts elbowing Sawa while he's got him by the legs, which allows him to grab the arm submission. Of course, there's plenty of stiff kicks and face slaps as the match progresses. Yamamoto's defense is really good early, especially in blocking the figure-four attempt. Sawa's dragon screw legwhip into the ropes was one of the more gnarly spots of the match, which he follows up with a bunch of pissy kicks. When Sawa lands his baseball punch, Yamamoto doesn't go down but when he tries for a follow up, Yamamoto smacks him and his his own submarine-style baseball slap. In the end, Sawa wins with a neat trapped kneebar but this match had it all, from the struggle on the mat, cool counters, and stiff exchanges in between.

Munenori Sawa vs. Mitsuya Nagai (BattlARTS, 10/25/08)

I really liked the old-school late 1970's feel to the hybridized style of BattlARTS, with Mitsuya Nagai playing the mean surly veteran and laying it into the spunky ball of fire in Munenori Sawa. Classic psychology and showmanship combined with stiff kicks and submission attempts. Sawa hangs with him awhile on the mat before Nagai takes over, working him with hard kicks and leg holds. While Sawa's in-the-moment selling is good, Nagai's grunting and yelling as he exerts more pressure on the holds really gets the crowd behind Sawa's eventual escapes. Great escalation of back half with tons of nasty strikes and suplexes and by the end of it, that total exhaustion factor that plays so well into many BattlARTS matches. Loved the final knee strike from Nagai and Sawa’s selling on the ten count with the fans firmly behind him. Really great match.

Hideki Suzuki & Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Takuya Nomura & Fuminori Abe (BJW, 5/13/18)

Oh baby, what a tag team match on paper and boy does it live up to my expectations! Tons of neat little things throughout, nasty strikes and suplexes, blood, finger biting, and zero shits given from the man Hideki Suzuki. Takuya Nomura opens the match against Daisuke Sekimoto and I love how he keeps slapping away Sekimoto's hands as he's trying to reach in...only to then straight up slap Daisuke in the face. When Fuminori Abe's in there against Suzuki, he's trying to get something on him but Hideki is too big so it's easy to get out. There's an awesome counter out of the armbar by Abe but when he tries for the armbar, Hideki maneuvers up to his feet and stomps Abe's face to break the hold, which may or may not have busted open Abe's lip. Hideki's still a dick from the apron, kicking Abe's foot off the ropes while he's in there against Sekimoto and then coming in and giving him some more shitty little kicks while he's down. Abe stuns Hideki with a spinning solebutt in the corner and when Suzuki tries for his strike combo, Abe counters the European uppercut with a leglock takedown, forcing Suzuki to the ropes.

Hideki biting Abe's fingers and casually tagging out to Sekimoto was a definite highlight of the match. Oh, and Sekimoto trying for a baseball-style lariat but sadly missing. Abe does a good job of slipping out of Hideki's single leg crab attempt and tags in Nomura, who comes at Hideki with kicks until Hideki catches a leg and capture suplexes him. Loved Nomura's pissy strikes in the corner, with him straight punching Hideki in the face! There's a pretty sweet double team into the reverse armbar by Nomura, with Abe climbing onto Sekimoto with an octopus hold. But Sekimoto powers over to kick Nomura off Hideki before dumping Abe. Then it's total destruction time for the big boys, as Hideki kills Nomura with a release dragon suplex, they Steinerize Abe to eliminate him form the equation, and finally finish off Nomura with the Sekimoto German into the Hideki double arm suplex.

Post-match, Hideyoshi Kamitani comes out like a total dweeb to challenge Hideki AGAIN but Hideki's like "fuck you, get out of my ring." Then Nomura says Suzuki is scared to put the title on the line against him and Suzuki responds that if the fans want it to happen, it will happen. Fuck yeah.

HARASHIMA vs. KUDO (DDT, 5/13/18)

These two had one of my favorite DDT matches of 2017 and once again, these two proved that their in-ring chemistry is a key to success. I've always had a soft spot for HARASHIMA's matwork, which usually doesn't go anywhere but when it's happening, I dig it. His leg trip to KUDO from the ground was especially neat. HARASHIMA is also one of the more frustrating sellers but when he's on, he's on, and here, he was on. He eats a spinning back kick to the face and I loved him immediately bailing to the outside after making it to his feet before the ten count...only for KUDO to take him out with a big dive! KUDO kicks hard and he kicked a lot in this match. His head kick toward the end of the match looked real nasty. In fact, there were quite a few strike exchanges throughout, from elbows to kicks to slaps, but everything was snug. KUDO is able to hit the hanging double knees, HARASHIMA hits the reverse frankensteiner. I really liked pulling a page from Yuko Miyamoto's playbook and spiking KUDO with the Fire Thunder Driver before finishing him off with the Somato. One of my favorite DDT matches of 2018.

Dick Togo v. Billy Ken Kid (Osaka Pro, 2/11/10)

Hey, did you know I like Dick Togo a lot? Well, I do, and he was pretty dang great as the dick rudo in his match against Billy Ken Kid. I mean, he attacks Kid in the midst of his streamers, beating him up on the outside and hitting a senton from the ramp to the floor. He badmouths fans, he poses in the corner, he teases the removal of Kid's mask and then just starts ripping it apart. Straight rudo activity. Kid finally gets a little reprieve by taking out Togo and crew with a beautiful tope con hilo, then busts Togo open with a corner dropkick. He can't build enough momentum to put Togo away and when he tries for another dive, he flies straight into a steel chair, which allows Togo to rip the mask completely off, proudly displaying it for the crowd. Kid's trying to stay covered with a towel but when he's finally thrown a new mask, he enters superhero mode. The match lulls for a bit here until Togo hits an RKO out of nowhere! He busts out all the signatures, including the Pedigree>diving senton combo but Kid survives, busting out all of HIS signatures before putting Togo away for good with the Firebird Splash. Dick Togo rules but Kid's a fun babyface in peril.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Keiichi Yamada (NJPW, 9/23/86)

Watching Jushin "Thunder" Liger as young lion Keiichi Yamada grap it up with one of the best in Yoshiaki Fujiwara was just as satisfying as one might expect. For not having a ton of experience, Yamada looks pretty good in there with the reverse armbar maestro Fujiwara. I mean, whenever he has an opening, Fujiwara is quick to take him down with the armbar. When Yamada finally gets him in a leglock, Fujiwara mocks him, pointing at the leg like "are you kidding me with this shit?" before promptly exerting control. I really like Yamada's little slaps to the face when he's got Fujiwara on the ropes and then he climbs on with a great octopus hold. But Fujiwara peels him off, flings him down, and hits a side suplex. Yamada's able to grab a kneebar to take him to the ropes, and when he's on his feet, he's lunging at Fujiwara with slaps. At one point, he's able to get Fujiwara in a neat figure-four but that's the last straw as Fujiwara contiously takes him down with Fujiwara armbar counters, eventually submitting him for the win. Very cool match.

Alexander Otsuka vs. Takashi Sugiura (ZERO1, 4/18/01)

Two bald machine suplex machines, scrambling around the mat in a slick shoot amateur fashion, looking for the first suplex while simultaneously avoiding getting suplexed on their head. Of course, I'm going to love this, especially with one of those machines being total package, Alexander Otsuka. The other machine, Takashi Sugiura, is no jabron and he fires off the first suplex with a belly-to-belly. Otsuka is able to take him down with the front necklock but Sugiura deftly bridges out and works into a front mount, where he just starts slapping Otsuka silly. You wonder, why is Otsuka taking all these slaps but then he gets up to his feet and headbutts the shit out of Sugiura, blood trickling down from his forehead as he smiles at Sugiura. What a MAN. They first trade headbutts, the blood spattering everywhere, and then suplexes, with Otsuka hitting a deadlift German and Sugiura with a cool rolling gutwrench. At this point in the match, Otsuka's a mess but when Sugiura tries for another gutwrench suplex, Otsuka picks the ankle and grounds Sugiura with the leglock, ultimately snagging a kimura for the submission victory. This was radical.

Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Yuji Nagata (ZERO1, 3/2/01)

News flash: Jun Akiyama rules. He rules now, he ruled then, and he's the standout of the inaugural ZERO1 main event. I really liked the opening between he and Yuji Nagata, but more importantly, I loved Akiyama harassing Hashimoto on the apron, only to get German suplexed from behind by Nagata. Once Hashimoto gets the tag, he batters Akiyama out of the ring and Jun's a little hesitant to return. The exchanges between those two are the most heated throughout the match. Akiyama and Nagata have fun throwing Exploders and taking each other's signature submissions. Misawa's fine here and gets in his usual spots but I would've liked to have seen his exchanges with Hashimoto be a little more...grumpy. Everyone drops some bombs toward the end but Hashimoto is more concerned with Akiyana than winning the match -- even after Misawa pins him, Hashimoto immediately goes back to attacking Akiyama before all hell breaks loose. FUN STUFF!

TAKA Michinoku vs. TAJIRI (K-Dojo, 4/22/18)

TAJIRI's recent AJPW junior title run was met with its fair share of criticism but I actually enjoyed most of it and I dig TAJIRI's more grounded approach to wrestling in his older age. Of course, TAKA can still go, especially when he's on his home turf and not just ZSJ's mouthpiece. This was a pretty neat 10:00 match with some very good, focused armwork from TAJIRI and a couple of great kicks.  Early on, TAJIRI bails out of the ring, he wipes his face with TAKA's towel, and then he goes to work on the arm. After a high kick into the pin attempt, he catches TAKA in a double wristlock off the kickout. There's a neat little sequence into the facelock but when TAKA lifts him up for a scoop slam, TAJIRI legscissors the bad arm, allowing him to take TAKA down with a rolling double wristlock. TAKA's selling is subtle but it works. He counters the buzzsaw kick into the facelock, then uses the legscissors and wrenches on the arm. He's able to hit the Michinoku Driver but Tajiri turns it into a pin attempt and buzzsaw kicks him. In the end, though, TAKA hits another for the win. Nothing blow away but a neat little match with a great TAJIRI performance.

Volk Han vs. Nikolai Zouev (RINGS, 11/18/93)

This is, quite possibly, the best match in RINGS 1993. Zouev has been the man throughout the last half of the year and now he's up against THE man in Volk Han. I loved the opening – you have Zouev shooting in for a takedown, Han whipping him down by the arm and trying to lock in the submission, but Zouev is able to turn Volk’s attempt into the cross armbar and sends him to the ropes. For the first time, Han is truly put to the test on the mat. They start taking each other down with submissions, throwing strikes in between. Han uses a cool hammerlocked double wristlock, and Zouev comes back with a rolling cross kneebar, making Han lunge for the ropes . At one point, Zouev has him in a scarf hold and Han tries to whip him over in an escape but Zouev keeps the hold locked in, forcing Han to go the ropes yet again.  As one might expect, the struggle was excellent as they fight over holds – tons of great takedowns and unique submissions. A couple slaps and kicks from Zouev but this was mostly submission warfare. The finish was awesome, as Han tries for something fancy and Zouev snags the Fujiwara armbar, trapping the legs to prevent Han’s escape and tapping him. Fantastic submission wrestling.

Andrei Kopylov vs. Nikolai Zouev (RINGS, 10/23/93)

Two Russian submission specialists = lots of struggle and defense. This was a back-and-forth game of chess on the canvas, where Andrei Kopylov would manage a rolling armbar takedown but Nikolai Zouev would block the submission, and vice versa, with Zouev utilizing some cool takedowns but Kopylov playing heavy D on the mat. When Kopylov finally gets him in a double leglock,  Zouev tries to struggle out and Andrei smartly hooks the leg to prevent the escape. I thought Kopylov looked more aggressive here with his strikes, landing knees and open hand slaps, but Zouev fires back, knocking Kopylov down with a big high kick. As the match progresses, they obviously get more sluggish and desperate to get something cinched in. Zoeuv finally grabs a toe hold with Kopylov trapped in a full nelson using his legs -- a very cool submission and another nice win for Zouev.

Hideki Suzuki vs. Daisuke Sekimoto (BJW, 5/5/18)

While not as good as their first time limit draw, this match did a lot with very little, putting the emphasis on the struggle of applying and maintain holds, and powering out of a situation. It's a slow and steady burn of classic psychology, where the champ, Hideki Suzuki, isn't able to manhandle Daisuke Sekimoto on the ground like everyone else in his title matches. Sekimoto is able to hold his own, using his strength to suppress Hideki. If you don't like Hideki Suzuki going into this match, chances are, you won't like him any more coming out of this match but he really sold well for Sekimoto, making Sekimoto's simple holds look debilitating. I love how Suzuki corners his opponents as a means of intimidation. Sekimoto uses his power to try and control Hideki, wearing him down with holds like the bear hug, which sees Hideki go limp when he tries to fight out. Hideki really works the cravate, keeping it cinched in as Sekimoto tries slamming him off, finally turning it into a neckbreaker. He manipulates the fingers of Sekimoto in order to get the cobra twist locked in, wrenching on the head and neck before Sekimoto staggers over to the ropes and dumps him outside.

Sekimoto works the back awhile, and again, some great selling by Hideki on the corner whips. At one point, Hideki needs to re-lace his boots, they shake hands, and continue their wrestling match, getting the fans invested in a traditional contest of holds. There a lot of neat touches to this match, like Sekimoto holding onto the armwhip attempt and forcing Suzuki to his knee, or rolling through with Hideki's escape attempt to maintain control. At one point, Hideki uses a cool but clunky headscissors takedown, trying clever pin attempts when he finds openings. I love how Sekimoto headbutts the leg to set up the single leg crab. The escalation in offense isn't done at the pull of trigger but builds in the same fashion as the rest of the match. Strikes are limited to a few chops and open hands and the build to Sekimoto's German suplex hold was really well done. Suzuki tries to unbuckle the deadlift German suplex attempt and Sekimoto just slams him down. When Sekimoto tries to suplex him off the ropes, Suzuki uses a low blow to escape before beating on him and hitting the scoop tombstone for a two count. Oh, and Sekimoto hits the double arm suplex and Hideki kicks out at one like "bitch, that's my move." By the end, they're sluggish and can't quite hit everything they need to in order to win the match. Sekimoto's able to finally hit the German suplex hold but Suzuki is barely able to slip out of the pin as the time limit expires.

Easily the best Suzuki match of 2018, and a definite throwback match structure that was able to draw in the fans through simplicity and struggle. Oh yeah, and Takuya Nomura ATTACKED Hideki after the match along with Fuminori Abe so...fuck yeah, we're getting a Suzuki/Nomura title match at some point.

Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mitsuya Nagai (AJPW, 3/3/01)

This match ruled. Imagine Toshiaki Kawada working a spell in BattlARTS, against a former RINGS underdog in Mitsuya Nagai. No pin attempts, only knockdowns and submissions. And for almost 12:00 minutes, these two beat the shit out of each other. Pesky Nagai gets to kicking early on until Kawada snaps on him with elbows, and they trade blows until Kawada boots him down and spits blood. The stage is set. Nagai's shitty underdog performance is incredible, from his selling and expressions to rubbing wrist tape in Kawada's face and kicking the shit out of his leg. Really good struggle from both during the Stretch Plum attempt. And then it shifts into another gear as they start blasting each other with low kicks to the leg.  Kawada is super aggressive with his kicks, buckling Nagai's knees and knocking him off his feet. But Nagai's giving it back to him and you can see Kawada's in pain as he limps around the ring, frustrated that Nagai keeps fighting. They slap the hell out of each other but Kawada keeps attacking the leg, putting him in a nasty stomping single leg crab. He keeps trying to submit Nagai with the single leg and after smacking him around and cutting the leg out with a kick, he really cranks on the single leg for the submission. I love a good, fiery underdog story and this delivered on almost all levels, with some great selling from both guys and brutal exchanges. A total hidden gem in Kawada's already stacked portfolio.

Volk Han vs. Masayuki Naruse (RINGS, 10/23/93)

What a great squash by the master Volk Han, who has to side slam the fire out of underdog Masayuki Naruse, who comes out of the gate hot, trying to stun Han with open hands and knee strikes. Of course, Han uses some awesome takedowns and submission holds thoughout, including a split-legged kneebar and a standing armbar. Naruse's just trying to hang on at points, either onto Han with a sleeper attempt or onto the ropes. His selling of Han's holds is terrific for a shoot-style match and his hope spot punch to the ribs was a cool moment that lit the crowd up. Naruse ultimately falls victim to Han's stepover armbar but he gave a spirited effort and Han continues to showcase why he's one of the best wrestlers in the world.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Joe Malenko (PWFG, 6/1/93)

Duh, this was great. No striking, very few throws or takedowns, but tons of excellent matwork -- in particular, the opening scramble was really good, with Joe Malenko showing off his responsiveness to the wily Yoshiaki Fujiwara, maintaining control of the leg even as Fujiwara is trying to roll out. The build to the Fujiwara armbar was done well, with Fujiwara scooting down to the mat in various attempts. But in classic Fujiwara fashion, he takes a moment to boredly rest his chin on his hand while he's trying to snag an armbar. I really liked how he used the knee on Malenko's chin to escape his control. Sure, there were lulls in the action but the attention to detail, the slick counters and reversals, and the tension built through submission attempts create a technically sweet mat-based encounter. In the end, Fujiwara's able to secure his patented armbar for the win.

Antonio Honda vs. Dick Togo (DDT, 1/30/2011)

This match wraps everything I love about pro-wrestling into the perfect little DDT package. Fantastic and brutal psychology, focused limbwork, tremendous selling, great comebacks, and one of the best slugfests this side of the Mexican border.  The comedy shtick was coat checked at the door and these two went to battle. Watching Antonio Honda in control of the arm makes me nostalgic for this Honda.  Dick Togo tries to arm drag Honda off but Honda holds on and even when Dick is able to toss him off, Honda’s right back on the arm like a puppy on a chew toy. When Togo’s got him in the body scissors, Honda takes advantage of the injured arm in order to escape. Togo’s selling of the left arm, his vocal expressions, the failed Pedigree attempts, the arm giving out on the crossface hold, all add something genuine to the narrative that is often absent from most modern wrestling matches. When Honda injures himself on the dive, Togo seizes on the opportunity, focusing his attack on Honda’s busted forehead. There’s such an awesome visual of Honda swinging wild with blood in his eyes, desperate to fight off Togo, who continues to bully him around the ring, banging his head into the corner. When Honda finally snaps, it’s a thing of beauty as he unloads on Togo with hellfire punches and dragon suplexes him! When neither man can’t seal the deal with their offense and missed finishes, they collide in a fury of punches and beat the shit out of each other until Honda can’t take it anymore and Togo is able to defeat him with that well-built Pedigree and diving senton. My favorite DDT match and one of the all-time greats.

Takeshi Ono vs. Daisuke Ikeda (Futen, 9/26/10)

This is more or less fives minutes of Daisuke Ikeda getting rocked with headshots, trying to find a way to promptly submit Takeshi Ono in order to put an end to the relentless barrage of punches and kicks. He’s able to catch a stray kick and plant Ono with a capture suplex early on but Ono’s back up and at ‘em with more brutal straight punches to the skull.  Ikeda fires off the occasional kick and when he’s finally able to stun him with a headbutt, he’s unable to take advantage of it as Ono is a persistent little bastard. After a brutal spinning backfist, Ono throws Ikeda with a tiger suplex before kicking him directly in the face. Yikes. They trade hard strikes and Ikeda is able to get him on the mat, where there’s some jockeying for position and control. Ono shifts into a front mount and starts in with the punches but once Ikeda’s able to snag one of his arms, he puts on the Fujiawara armbar and it’s over just as quickly as it began. Short on time and like watching two dudes beat each other silly? Check this one out.