U-STYLE (2005)

Well, technically, only one show took place in 2005 but it had a couple of matches worth checking out.

Frank Shamrock vs. Daisuke Nakamura (U-STYLE, 11/25/05)

This was a blast, with a high energy opening and fun, chaotic scrambles on the mat. Just a good, competitive, well-worked shoot-style match. Shamrock was especially good here, between his taunting Nakamura to punch his abs to just deadlifting him with a front necklock. That looked pretty gross. All of his submissions and strikes looked snug. Nakamura, on the other hand, kept whiffing on his takedowns, which Shamrock would capitalize on, mainly by wrecking the shit out of his ankle. He's able to get a straight armbar on Shamrock but Frank takes the match with a nice heel hook. Good stuff.

Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Josh Barnett (U-STYLE, 11/25/05)

Match of the night, with Barnett in beast mode. He may not as quick as Tamura but he uses his size to his advantage and stays on top of Tamura. Him just flipping Tamura over his head by the leg was a great show of strength. After Tamura downs him with a pretty nasty knee to the face, Barnett rages with a brutal uranage followed by a deadlift German. POWERFUL~!  Tamura's able to crank on the armbar but Josh is close enough to the ropes for a break. They trade kicks, Barnett plants him with the capture buster but when he tries to double dip, Tamura grabs the armbar again and finally taps him. A super fun David vs. Goliath match-up.

Yuji Nagata vs.Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (NJPW, 5/14/05)

A shout out is in order to Kelley Denham's The Forgotten Inokiists for bringing attention to Tsuyoshi Kohsaka's brief but cool run through New Japan from 2002-2005. In March 2005, Kohsaka faced and submitted Yuji Nagata at Nexess V in a short but sweet little match-up. Two months later at Nexess VI, the two had a rematch in what is possibly Kohsaka's best match in NJPW. Nagata is fired up from the ring of the bell, landing a big rolling kick in the ropes before delivering an overhead suplex and a penalty kick. They work the mat in some slick exchanges that result in Kohsaka securing a triangle. Nagata's able to escape the hold and they trade snug face slaps before Nagata attempts the running boot, TK ducks it and slaps on a sleeper hold. When Nagata tries to counter out with an over-the-shoulder armbreaker, TK turns the attempt into a ura-nage and goes right back to the sleeper hold. Nagata is finally able to break away and in a cool moment, he blasts TK with that climbing corner knee before they both collapse in exhaustion. The finishing stretch is great, with them trading more nasty slaps and Nagata countering a front necklock with an Exploder. He dumps Kohsaka with a release dragon suplex and when TK tries once more to lock in the sleeper, Nagata turns it into a killer backdrop hold for the pinfall. Definitely a terrific sub-ten minute match worth checking out.

Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda (Futen, 4/24/05)

Six years later, both Ishikawa and Ikeda look like they’ve seen some hell, and they're about to put each other through hell in a match all about the violence of the strikes. Ikeda's man enough to shake Ishikawa's hand and then immediately punches him at the sound of the bell. Tons of sick punches, elbows, kicks, with some queasy camerawork trying to capture the action. Built around the struggle, there's still some neat little things, like Ishikawa kicking out Ikeda's arms when he tries to push for for leverage during a leglock. But when it hits, it hits hard. Ishiakwa gets busted open with a gross punt kick to the face, Ishikawa folds Ikeda up with backdrop drivers, and then they're punching each other in the face and headbutting, finally scrambling around for a final submission hold in a cool departure from the brutality of the match. In the end, Ishikwa finally catches him in the rear naked choke for the submission.

KENTA vs. SUWA (NOAH, 9/18/05)

When you think of the “great” junior heavyweights of Pro-Wrestling NOAH, SUWA’s name is often left out of that list in favor of someone flashier like Marufuji or Ishimori, or everybody’s favorite angsty junior, KENTA. But SUWA, putting in the bad dude performance of a lifetime, managed to bring perhaps the very best out of KENTA, as he dragged his boot heel across the line in the sand. The lost art of being heel. He wants in and out of this match pronto, so he attacks KENTA with the timekeeper’s bell and an equipment case, cheering himself on as he thinks he’s somehow done it but the match is ruled a no contest and restarted as he’s heading up the rampway. Pissed with this decision, SUWA gets in Joe Higuchi’s old man face but Higuchi ain’t no stooge and he’s ready to fight, stripping off the sports coat. Back in the ring, he chokes KENTA with tape, smacks the referee with the turnbuckle pad before hucking it at Higuchi – love Higuchi point at him like “watch it, punk!”. As KENTA starts building momentum, SUWA deliberately shoves the ref into the ropes as KENTA attempts to springboard off the ropes, causing him to crash and burn. Awesome. They fire on all cylinders heading into the back half of the match, flip-flopping on offense, with KENTA taking out some that brimming aggression in the corner with his stomps. They dive, throw bombs, KENTA counters the FFF with the Go 2 Sleep, and then he just annihilates SUWA with back-to-back-to-back head kicks and high kicks and the running knee to finish him off.

Kenta Kobashi vs Minoru Suzuki (NOAH, 1/8/05)

I can see why people may be turned off by this match, as it isn’t really structured like a traditional Kenta Kobashi “epic special fantastical”. That being said, I love this match, not only because of Minoru Suzuki’s performance but Kobashi’s selling of the arm. The systematic destruction of a body part is one of my favorite stories in pro-wrestling and Suzuki’s fantastic at it. Obviously, Kenta’s going to be chopping and lariating a bunch so it makes perfect sense to take that arm out of the equation. I love Suzuki’s initial hesitation to lock up with Kobashi, utilizing his cat-like speed and agility to bob and weave around Kobashi’s chops, bitching slapping Kenta when he as a chance and then promptly attacking the arm. Of course, when Suzuki does get caught with chops, it’s wonderful. But I could watch Suzuki dismantling somebody’s arm all day long, just trapping and stretching limbs, and Kobashi’s selling is perfect here, especially the missed chop and Suzuki’s finger wagging. Suzuki’s such a badass that he hits the Gotch-style piledriver and decides to stand on Kobashi’s head rather than pin him. Even when he’s getting rocked with brutal suplexes and powerbombs, Suzuki finds a way to snag the arm and further inflict damage, not giving Kobashi an inch. His only real effective offense are his suplexes and when he unloads on Suzuki with backdrop after backdrop suplex, it’s brutally awesome – not to mention Suzuki’s last stand, as pathetically slaps away at Kobashi before crumbling in defeat.  Terrrrrrrrific.

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.

KENTA & Katsuyori Shibata vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Go Shiozaki (NOAH, 12/4/05)

I guess this is where the “heat” between Shibata and Shiozaki took root. Shibata kicks the crap out of Shiozaki to open this match and calls out Misawa like a badass. Hell of a way to start the match. Similar to the previous KENTA & Shibata tag match, this was pandering at times but felt more consistent from bell to bell. Misawa took some major bumps (Jesus, that springboard Doomsday Device) and the interactions between he and Shibata felt unique but it’s a lot of Shiozaki getting dominated – those alternating kicks against the kicks looked painful.  Shiozaki doesn’t look bad in there and he’s always been a good seller. Love Misawa snapping on KENTA when he comes at him with those disrespectful shit kicks in the corner. The story here is Shibata REALLY wants to put Misawa to sleep and defeat him. He dangerously backdrops Misawa on his head after a sleeper hold and slaps it right back on, tiring him out for the PK. Shiozaki breaks it up and immediately pays for it. Misawa/Shiozaki rally back with a tiger driver into the German suplex combo and there’s a great moment where Shibata is fighting against a German but Shiozaki delivers it anyway. That KENTA save from across the ring after the moonsault was awesome. In the end, Shiozaki survives the PK but not a few brutal kicks to the head. Another good to great tag match with plenty of fun moments. 

KENTA & Katsuyori Shibata vs. Takeshi Morishima & Mohammed Yone (NOAH, 11/5/05)

This was like a greatest hits match, with a lot of cool spots and moments, but no real cohesion. Mohammed Yone was the lame duck and the match lost a bit of its steam when he was controlling on offense.  KENTA and Shibata were a fun pairing, and pissed off Baby Huey Morishima was awesome, especially in his interactions with KENTA. After KENTA hits the tag-in springboard dropkick, his shitty little face kicks only aggravate Morishima, which leads to a beat down and Morishima tossing him out of the ring. Shibata/KENTA looked great on offense against the cut off Yone, using plenty of hard strikes and some fun fake-out double teams. But Yone’s selling wasn’t good at all. Morishima’s volatility, however, was the best thing about this match, in my opinion. When KENTA goes to fuck with him on the apron, Morishima yanks him out of the ring and throws him over the barricade! Things slow down when Morishima/Yone are on offense, though I loved the smaller KENTA throwing himself at both guys in an attempt to fight them off. Shibata worked in some good strikes and arm control on Morishima. I loved him coming in and booting Morishima over the ropes to the outside to set up the big springboard Doomsday Device. The final stretch was a mess but the finish between KENTA and Morishima was brutal. Not a great match by any means but plenty of great moments.

Katsuyori Shibata vs. Kazunari Murakami (BML, 9/11/05)

This is the inaugural Big Mouth Loud show, Shibata’s vanity promotion following his departure from New Japan, and who better to battle the face of the place than big bad boss, Kazunari Murakami. This was an alright match. The strikes looked good and hard, and it felt as if they were building to something much bigger, but the finish was abrupt and unconvincing. Ideally, the legwork from Murakami should have had a more prominent role in this match, as it felt like a logical approach and Shibata’s selling of it was solid. The midsection of the match stuck out to me the most. Shibata catches a kick attempt and tries to suplex Murakami, who hangs onto the ropes, building to the corner attacks and dropkicks from Shibata. When Murakami re-enters the ring, he has that evil grin on his face and the two try to outkick each other for our enjoyment. Good stuff. Murakami ends up winning with a running knee but again, it felt like the wrong guy won here. 

Katsuyori Shibata vs. Jun Akiyama (WRESTLE-1, 8/4/05)

This is Shibata post-NJPW, bottled full of spitfire and ready to make someone bleed. That someone just happens to be daddy Akiyama and when he bleeds...well, he ain't too happy about it. Holy shit this match. I first watched this nearly 10 years ago in college but re-watching it today has only reaffirmed my love for these two bad dudes. Non-stop savagery. The one downside to this match is the shitty camerawork and poorly-timed cutaways.  Shibata is brutal right out of the gate, rushing Akiyama with a dropkick before backdropping him on his pre-bald head. He gives him a little love tap kick to the face before busting him wide open with a follow-up shotgun blast of a kick (see photo above). Shibata only pisses him off and Akiyama starts throwing elbows and knees and chairs on the outside. Back inside, the two slap it out but when Akiyama sneaks in a backdrop, Shibata smartly holds on and turns it into a sleeper upon impact. What a visual of the blood draining from Akiyama's face in this moment. The sleeper wears him down and Shibata drills him with the PK. But he doesn't want to pin Jun,  he just wants him back on his feet so he can continue dishing out the pain. Love that fight. 

Shibata with a big running knee to Akiyama's gut while he's using the ropes for support. The referee does everything he can to prevent Shibata from going after Akiyama on the outside but Shibata's not having it. He misses a kick and connects with the ringpost, allowing Akiyama to take advantage and backdrop Shibata on the commentary table. Takayama is sitting there like "what the fuck, you guys?" Akiyama kills Shibata's knee with repeated chairshots on the guardrail, exposes the cold concrete and proceeds to piledrive him. But he's not quite done and goes back for the chair, laying into Shibata with some shots to the head. Jun welcomes him back to the ring with a running knee, kicking and kneeing him in the face before delivering another backdrop. Shibata kicks out at one so Akiyama cinches in the front necklock. Such great psychology from Akiyama throughout.

I love the desperation in the strike exchanges, with Akiyama throwing himself at Shibata. I love Shibata teasing the Exploder and in turn, planting Akiyama with the STO into a neck crank. When he tries for the sleeper, Akiyama's in the ropes so he tries for a full nelson suplex but Akiyama struggles...so he settles for a quick German suplex instead. The toukon no sold rush of back-and-forth offense was inserted perfectly into this and yeah, Shibata is blowing off most of Akiyama's neck work but he works in such an adrenaline-frenzied way that it takes a couple of head-drop Exploders to really faze him. Good counterwork from Akiyama as he catches a kick, elbows the knee and hits another Exploder before going right into the facelock. A pair of knees gets a one count and Akiyama lays into Shibata with some vicious slaps. He hits a sheer-drop Exploder and a running knee, finally putting Shibata to bed with am awesome Exploder '98 for the win. Comfortably in my top 3 Shibata matches of all time, just balls to the wall from bell to bell. Probably WRESTLE-1's greatest match to date.