Yuji Okabayashi vs. Ryuichi Kawakami (BJW, 6/5/13)

I love these under 20 minute “modern strong style” match-ups. It feels compact and vicious, without dragging out into overkill territory. This was big boss golem Okabayashi doing a damn fine job of trying to keep the feisty Kawakami down, clubbing, chopping and lariating him silly. Whenever Kawakami gets a whiff of retaliation, Okabayashi cuts him off. The finishing stretch to this thing is outright nasty, with Okabayashi paintbrushing Kawakami with slaps and Kawakami firing back with rapid-fire elbows and a big rolling elbow. He hits a couple of Germans and a brutal half nelson suplex but Okabayashi will not die. So Kawakami unleashes the Scarlet Flowsion~! to put the nail in the coffin and earn his shot at the title. Fun stuff!

Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Ryuichi Kawakami (BJW, 6/30/13)

This is what I wanted out of this match. Kawakami is this hyperviolent ball of spitfire and Sekimoto works in this sort of frustrated energy with his facials, the way he looks at the ref, some of his offense choices, like switching from the crab to the STF and the snake eyes into the German suplex. He also really sells well for Kawakami's offense, which gets epic in his last gasp run. I really like the way they open with the aggressive, almost frantic back-and-forth grappling. Kawasaki more than held his own in the slugfests with Sekimoto. His elbows looked brutal and Sekimoto sold them in a staggering way. They play human bumper cars awhile and Sekimoto unleashes these cleaving chops but when he tries for the gamegiri, Kawakami blocks it and unleashes hell on him with suplexes and a gnarly snap Emerald Fushion for a nearfall. Kawakami doesn't know what else to do and in their final elbow battle, he's able to stun him with a shot but Sekimoto hits this massive reaction lariat! Even in his final death throes, Kawasaki shows this sense of desperation as he so close to the ropes as Sekimoto is deadlifting him...yet, too far. Awesome stuff!