Mr. Gannosuke vs. GENTARO (GUTS World, 6/17/16)

Yet another random match that somehow alluded me last year, this time from the magical GUTS World. Mr. Gannosuke, the 48-year old champion, defends against jack-of-all-trades, GENTARO. This isn't a match for everyone -- it's like a game of chess between two old friends. Slow, methodical, deliberate. The matwork is old-school in execution, not quite the prettiest but effective, and GENTARO works as the "by any means necessary" skeazy heel, whose overconfidence spells disaster. They go hold-for-hold to open the match, each targeting a different limb and then trading at points. GENTARO works over the arm on the ground, with a hard-edged chair, and a running armbreaker. When he tries for the bow-and-arrow hold, Gannosuke grabs an ankle and somehow reverses it into an Indian deathlock. The counterwork is really great throughout, with Gentaro poking the eyes or tugging on Gannosuke's shitty little beard to escape a hold. There was some unnecessary outside stuff that felt like a speedbump in the momentum before Gannosuke's back to working the leg inside the ring. After GENTARO tosses Gannosuke from the top rope, he hits a running bulldog, calling for a second but taking a backdrop from Gannosuke. Tons of counters in the home stretch, cradles and pin attempts, with Gannosuke hanging onto his title after a backslide. Not the most exciting match by today's #standards but I enjoyed it! 

Top 10 Matches of 2016

Here's my top 10 Japanese matches of 2016.

1. Kazuchika Okada vs. Tomohiro Ishii (NJPW, 8/6/16)
2. Yuji Okabayashi vs. Hideyoshi Kamitani (BJW, 7/24/16)
3. Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito (NJPW, 8/13/16)
4. Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Minoru Suzuki (NOAH, 12/2/16)
5. Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Minoru Suzuki (NOAH, 2/24/16)
6. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Satoshi Kojima (NJPW, 3/19/16)
7. Jun Akiyama vs. Kento Miyahara (AJPW, 7/23/16)
8. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. AJ Styles (NJPW, 1/4/16)
9. Dragon Lee vs. Kamaitachi (NJPW, 1/24/16)
10. Shuji Ishikawa vs. Konosuke Takeshita (DDT, 8/28/16)

Meiko Satomura vs. Chihiro Hashimoto (Sendai Girls, 10/16/16)

Admittedly, I don't watch a lot of joshi wrestling. I can count the number of matches on one hand. But I wanted to watch something from last year. I don't know either of these women. I don't know the history. Hashimoto's a cute hoss and Satomura is a black widow. I liked the crisp, competitive nature of the opening matwork. Hashimoto isn't the smoothest and some of her transitions/offense looked clunky but she does some cool little things, like flipping onto her stomach after the backdrop or rolling out of the ring to avoid the pin. Her lariats suck but she throws a mean German suplex. Satomura is great. I loved her going for the lock up and quickly chopping out Hashimoto leg and working the wristlock. She had Hashimoto scouted on the back sentons pot and turned it into an armbar. Her kicks are snug and sound, her slaps vicious. When Hashimoto is dropping bombs on her, the referee tries to keep her from continuing the attack and I was hoping she'd tap into a little mean streak there toward the end. The finish was great with the back-to-back German suplexes and Hashimoto seems to have a lot of potential from the one match I've seen. I definitely want to get into some more Satomura matches. Good stuff.

Jushin Liger vs. Virus (NJPW, 1/24/16)

Two well-seasoned maestros rolling around on the mat for a little over eight minutes, slickly transitioning from hold to hold, stretching and countering one another, teasing strikes. Loved the spot where Liger tries for the Romero Special, Virus scrambles to the ropes, and Liger wags his finger at him, as if to say "don't underestimate the Thunder, bub." No doubt, Liger more than held his own against Virus but this felt more like a short showcase of Virus for the Korakuen crowd. Virus was great here but in the end, Liger showed that he's got just a little more experience, submitting Virus with la mecadora. A fun hidden gem. 

Yuji Nagata vs. Manabu Nakanishi (NJPW, 12/17/16)

Part of me wishes they would’ve held off on this match until Wrestle Kingdom and made it Nakanishi’s retirement match because I doubt we’ll get anything this good out of him again. This was by no means a great match; however, it was a GOOD Nakanishi match. He gave it everything his increasingly immobile body could muster, including a plancha, a top rope dropkick and that awesome superplex spot, not to mention taking a top rope Exploder from Nagata! I liked the narrative early on, as Nakanishi gets the advantage on Nagata and Nagata resorts to attacking Nakanishi’s weakness in the knee – great selling in that moment by Nakanishi.  But that storyline is soon abandoned in favor of Nakanishi getting in his signature spots, which works for this match and the crowd was really behind him. Nagata pins him after using the rare wrist-clutch Exploder. Nakanishi’s annual good match was a lot of fun and I don’t know if we’ll get anything like this out of him again, which is why this may have worked better on a bigger stage. 

Shuji Ishikawa & Kohei Sato vs. Hideki Suzuki & Takuya Nomura (BJW, 12/18/16)

This match ruled! It was easily the best match on an otherwise decent Death Vegas card and it may be my favorite Japanese tag match of the year but perhaps more importantly, it served a great platform for Takuya Nomura to showcase what he’s learned over the past year. His selling was fantastic for his experience level, from his facials to the desperation in his strikes. And he gets so excited from kicking, he sometimes slips and falls. Suzuki wasn’t phoning it in either, coming in for some suplex saves. One of the things I like about Suzuki, and it showed in his early touch-and-go with Ishikawa, is the way he’s continually moving, not allowing Ishikawa a solid grip, but shifting and feeling for a weakness or an opening. Of course, Twin Towers were brutal as always and held nothing back in their exchanges with the spunky Nomura. Sato throws the best elbows in pro-wrestling and Ishikawa and Nomura working themselves into a “shoot” was awesome. Loved Ishikawa turning one of Nomura’s kicks into a stretch muffler airplane spin.

The final confrontation between Nomura and Sato was the icing on the cake. Nomura unloads on Sato with everything he has, kicking him harder and harder, his eyes wild as he’s thinking “damn, how hard do I have to kick?!” before Sato finally collapses with his spasmodic selling. Again, Nomura shows the little things he’s picked up along the way, like when he has Sato in the cross armbreaker and he grabs the leg as Sato struggles, turning it into a pin attempt. Suzuki makes a great save after Sato hits a nasty elbow and while Nomura survives the Falcon Arrow, the follow-up piledriver is enough to put the rookie phenom down for good. Post-match, Nomura says “fuck your handshake” to Ishikawa. Awesome stuff. 

Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Minoru Suzuki (NOAH, 12/2/16)

Going into this match, Nakajima's 2/24 match against Suzuki is still the top contender for my "Match of the Year" (although the great re-watching begins soon). Superb performances from both of those guys, playing their respective roles to the fucking hilt. Fast-forward to December and Nakajima is no longer the spunky baby-faced fighting underdog but now stands on top of the promotion as the GHC Heavyweight Champion. He doesn't approach this fight with the same timidness but looks confident with his hair back and love tapping Suzuki after a tie-up in the ropes. The look on Suzuki's face is priceless. Whereas the focus of the first match was on Suzuki destroying Nakajima's arm, here he's focused on Nakajima's leg, although it never quite gets the level of the 2/24 match. Suzuki's awesome awareness is once again on display, as he jumps at the opportunity to attack the leg after Nakajima gets hung up in the ropes. When Nakajima tries to fight back a little later on, Suzuki slides underneath a kick attempt and gets control of the leg again, forcing him down in a leglock. Nakajima always sells so well for Suzuki, whether it's from elbow shots or submission holds. The desperation of him grabbing onto the referee was great. 

Suzuki survives one brainbuster and in a great callback to the first match, Nakajima highkicks Suzuki in the head, seemingly KO'ing him in the process. The referee tries to keep Nakajima back as he checks on Suzuki's condition and when Nakajima tries to pull Suzuki up to his feet, Suzuki's nothing but dead weight. But Suzuki was trolling Nakajima and after he chases him down with a dropkick, Suzuki has that evil grin on his face. He doesn't hold back with the strikes as he unloads on Nakajima with elbows, slaps, and jabs, eventually wearing him down with a sleeper hold for the Gotch-style piledriver attempt but Nakajima fights it off. They trade elbows and when Suzuki knocks down the ref, he straight punches Nakajima in the face twice before calling for Suzuki-gun to no avail. Loved Suzuki's reaction to no one coming to his aid. The final strike battle was a thing of beauty, with Suzuki's perfect selling, the slowed elbows to the point where he's just tapping Nakajima.  In the last minutes, Nakajima is trying to once and for all slay the dragon in Suzuki but Suzuki won't stay down. He finally lands another high kick to the head and delivers the nail in the coffin with a second brainbuster.

Awesome stuff. Like their previous meeting, the performances ruled this match, with both guys selling their asses off for each other. Without having re-watched the 2/24 match, it's hard to say whether this one eclipsed it or not. No doubt, they're the two best NOAH matches this year. If anything, this serves as the perfect companion piece and completes the story between these two. Hail Nakajima, as he vanquishes Suzuki-gun from NOAH and takes his place as the rightful ace of the promotion. 

Daisuke vs. Mr. Gannosuke (GUTS World, 5/8/16)

Another top notch performance from Mr. Gannosuke in what may be my favorite GUTS World match of the year so far. Great energy and hustle from Gannosuke, awesome old man armwork, and a hot finish. Can't ask for much more. Daisuke was good here, too, with decent selling throughout and a fun callback to his earlier work in the match. But the narrative here was Gannosuke showing off some of that hard-earned wrestling wisdom and experience. Once he took control of Daisuke's arm after banging it around the ringpost, the match really fell into place. He swanks it up with a fireman's carry into the armbar. He wrecks it old school with some grinding elbows and stiff, ole-fashioned wrenching.I could watch this all day long. The way he manipulates Daisuke's fingers while he has him in the armbar. Pulling Daisuke's elbow pad off, tossing it into the crowd and kicking the arm. I loved the running armbreakers. Just relentless work from the veteran. 

Daisuke fires back with some elbows using his good arm and gets in some offense, including a cool slingshot corkscrew splash, but Gannosuke turns the lights off on the party, attacking the bad arm to escape a top rope move and superplexing Daisuke. He hits a gutwrench suplex and a tribute Falcon Arrow but Daisuke avoids the Fire Thunder and goes back to the leg he worked in the beginning, hitting a dragon screw legwhip and locking in the figure-four. When he tries for a sliding elbow, Gannosuke counters and hits another pair of running armbreakers before forcing him down with the wakigatame, really putting his weight into it. Daisuke gets a little frog splash crazy there in the end, hitting two back-to-back and trying for a third, clearly exhausted. Gannosuke blocks it, release germans are exchanged, before the vet clobbers Daisuke with a hard lariat. The champ survives a powerbomb and a Fire Thunder Driver but Gannosuke hits him with a second one and it's lights out. A very well-earned victory for Mr. Gannosuke. 

Tatsuhiko Yoshino vs. Mr. Gannosuke (GUTS World, 3/22/16)

Continuing on my journey through GUTS World, I really enjoyed this match-up for the most part, especially the performance from Mr. Gannosuke and the Hayabusa tribute spots. Yoshino takes control early on after a big somersault plancha to the outside, staying on Gannosuke’s neck with neckbreakers and holds. Good selling from Gannosuke throughout, going back to remind us of Yoshino’s previous work. Gannosuke does a tremendous job of working over Yoshino’s back and dictating the flow of the match, smartly taking breathers and forcing Yoshino back into his game. Really neat transition from the surfboard stretch into the single leg crab. Yoshino’s failed comebacks were well-sold but some of his selling down the stretch left something to be desired, particularly on those back-to-back German suplex spots. I loved Gannosuke’s use of the full nelson slam into the Nirvana Strangle as a wear down mechanism for the dragon suplex. Yoshino gets off one last gasp with a Michinoku Driver after escaping the Fire Thunder Driver but when he misses the Firebird Splash, Gannosuke delivers vicious lariats to the back of the neck and front, setting up the kneeling powerbomb for two. When that doesn’t do the trick, he relies on the trusted Fire Thunder Driver to get the job done. Really fun match!

Daisuke vs. Buffalo (GUTS World, 4/24/16)

Buffalo did a fantastic job in his role as the dominating heel, continually cutting off the champ’s efforts to turn this thing around in his favor. I liked his use of the low blow to escape the German suplex attempt and the referee not making the count because of it. On the receiving end of Buffalo’s beatdown, Daisuke isn’t the most compelling guy to watch. His selling is okay at best. He gets busted open after a fat chairshot to the head and Buffalo proceeds to bully him for the next ten minutes or so with piledrivers, lariats, and a tiger driver. The majority of this match felt very one-sided, with Buffalo unloading everything in his arsenal and Daisuke surviving it all. The last quarter of this match was filled with big offense and a ton of kick-outs, as well as a couple of cool spots (including a deadly plastic bin being smashed over Buffalo’s head). After no selling a German suplex, Buffalo delivers a killer sliding lariat to the back of Daisuke’s neck, which could easily be the finish of the match, but nope – Daisuke holds on. He kicks out of a backdrop driver and another lariat, managing to throw Buffalo into the turnbuckles with a release German. After a dragon suplex hold, Daisuke hits two sliding elbows to finally defeat Buffalo and retain his title. Kind of a quick turnaround for Daisuke after taking the brunt of Buffalo’s offense and not really selling the long-term physical exhaustion.  

NOAH "GREAT VOYAGE 2016 IN YOKOHAMA VOL. 2" (10/23/16)

NOAH vs. Suzuki-gun: Minoru Suzuki vs. Kaito Kiyomiya

I love when Suzuki toys with the young boys. Let them think they’re getting somewhere then quickly shut them down and out when they overstep their boundaries and piss him off. Same reason I love the other Suzuki (Hideki). Give them an inch and when they take a mile, kill them. This is exactly what happened here with poor Kiyomiya. He comes out red hot with elbows but Suzuki doesn’t let it spiral out of control and hits back even harder with his own elbow shots. We get the expected rope-hung submission spot from Suzuki before he introduces Kiyomiya to some chairs. Kiyomiya sells Suzuki’s offense well enough and mounts a little bit of a comeback as he tries to wear Suzuki down with dropkicks and crab holds. But this only pushes Suzuki to the breaking point, and he unloads on Kiyomiya. Loved Suzuki picking Kiyomiya back up whenever he collapses from exhaustion only to keep paintbrushing him with slaps before ultimately ending his misery with the Gotch-style piledriver. Fun little rookie punishment match with Kiyomiya getting a bit of control time in before dying at the hands of Suzuki.

NOAH vs. NJPW Special Singles Match: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Go Shiozaki

This is a match that’s been built-up nicely since Shibata’s violent interactions with the NOAH boys and Shiozaki’s NEVER Title challenge fake out. I admit, my expectations were high going into this and maybe I was left a tad bit disappointed by the end of it but following the awesome post-match shenanigans, I’m certain this is only the first of several interactions between Shibata and Shiozaki, possibly leading to Shiozaki challenging for the NEVER Title at Wrestle Kingdom. As an introduction, though, this was a pretty fun Shibata formula match with some blatant no selling, awkward German backdrops, tons of elbows, tons of chops from Shiozaki that left Shibata’s chest raw meat red. Go’s offense can often be underwhelming but I thought everything was executed well, from the fisherman buster to that gnarly lariat -- hell, even the Go Flasher looked as devastating as it can. I thought the busted nose only added to the match, with Shiozaki sniffing back the blood. The sleeper hold into the sleeper suplex was also a neat, fitting spot given the environment and set up the finish nicely. I didn’t love this like some of Shibata’s NJ matches from earlier in the year but it was good and I’m certain they’ll deliver much more come January.

GHC Heavyweight Title: Takashi Sugiura (c) vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima

I may be in the minority here but I enjoyed this more than the Shibata/Shiozaki match and in my opinion, it was a definite improvement upon their match from earlier in the year. Nakajima’s just so good playing the baby-faced, underdog burning spirit and his selling of the injured back and selling those elbows like death really added something special to the narrative. It’s a slow burn, no doubt, and could’ve benefitted with a few minutes trimmed off the total runtime but it didn’t feel like a chore to sit through like with Sugiura’s previously defenses. Loved Nakajima almost KO’ing Sugiura early on after Sugiura tries to cheap shot him against the ropes, a nice callback to his match with Suzuki and Suzuki trying to punk him like he’s still Kensuke’s towel boy. None of that bullshit, sir. After Sugiura hits an overhead suplex on the walkway, he starts working over that injured back, at one point using a chair. Shuichi Nishinaga is one of my favorite officials to watch because he ain’t scared to get in there and cut out the nonsense. Nakajima took some nasty elbows from Sugiura but kept asking for more and eventually fired back with some of his hard kicks, building to a PK and a brainbuster for two. I feel like Nakajima’s brainbuster should be reserved as the nail in the coffin but it didn’t take away too much here and Sugiura got to hit one of his own. When the Olympic Slam isn’t enough, Sugiura tries for the top rope variation only for Nakajima to blast him with a big fat headbutt to knock him off. So great. After a couple of quick thrust kicks, Nakajima hits a smooth-as-silk deadlift German for two before connecting with back-to-front PKs, a thrust kick to the head and the brainbuster for the biggest win of his career. Let’s hope he gets a proper reign to cement his status as the ACE of NOAH. Probably the “best” NOAH show of the year from what I saw

Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Takuya Nomura (BJW, 9/19/16)

This is everything I love about Takuya Nomura, coupled with Sekimoto's solid backwork and BJ Strong intensity. Right out of the gate, Nomura tries the overwhelm strategy, hitting a dropkick, elbowing away in the corner, snapping off kicks to the chest. Sekimoto quickly squashes this and clobbers away at Nomura. But Nomura is that birthday candle you can't quite blow out on the first couple of tries. The crowd's in his corner so he keeps on bringing the fight to Sekimoto. Sekimoto starts working over his back with kicks, elbow drops, scoop slams, a camel clutch, trying to immobilize Nomura. Nomura's strikes look really good here, especially the kicks. The home stretch was a lot of fun, with the two trading elbows -- Sekimoto with his clobbering shots and Nomura throwing elbows as hard as he can. When Sekimoto catches the leg, Nomura lets loose with the slaps but as he comes off the ropes, Sekimoto catches him with a Rock Bottom-style backbreaker before slapping on his shitty Sharpshooter. Nomura holds out for a bit but the referee ultimately calls for the bell. Good stuff!

Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi vs. Hideki Suzuki & Takuya Nomura (BJW, 9/22/16)

My dark horse team of the tournament -- rookie phenom, Takuya Nomura, alongside his trainer/mentor, Hideki Suzuki, taking on STRONG BJ. Going into this, I knew Suzuki/Nomura had zero chance of winning this thing but that didn't stop Nomura from giving Sekimoto and Okabayashi hell. I loved his fire in this match, especially in his initial exchange with Okabayashi, where he stuns the big boss with elbows, kicks, and a headbutt. Okabayashi chops him down and makes the tag out to Sekimoto, having had enough of Nomura's spunk. Nomura keeps bringing it no matter the odds, never letting Strong BJ bully him too much. Suzuki didn't get too much time to shine here but he and Sekimoto did have a fun exchange which resulted in some suplex throws. Hell of a performance from the young Nomura, who ultimately took the fall for his team after a top rope suplex/frog splash combo from Strong BJ. 

Konosuke Takeshita vs. Shuji Ishikawa (DDT, 8/28/16)

The last time these two met in singles action, it was a sub-five minute match, in which Takeshita defeated Ishikawa in a short spurt of bomb-tastic offense. This match, in a lot of ways, is similar to that shorty but goody – an epic-style bombfest that was red hot right out the gate. After Ishikawa powerbombs Takeshita onto the apron early on, it becomes painfully (literally) obvious that Takeshita will have to empty the tank and tap into his reserves in order to keep the title. They go back and forth, trading strikes and throwing bombs. Takeshita gets a run of offense, including a dragon suplex and Blue Thunder Bomb, but when he tries for the deadlift German, an exhausted Ishikawa elbows his way out and hits a cool backdrop-style backbreaker onto the knees before locking in a cloverleaf hold. Ishikawa, more or less, targets the back throughout, trying to deplete Takeshita’s fiery energy. Fatigued, Takeshita tries to fight back but can’t and Ishikawa sees the weakness and looks to finish the job with a sleeper hold, transitioning into a sleeper-style slam and a running knee for a two count. 

There’s a nice call back to their tag match from earlier in the year when Takeshita tries taking him down with those cheap plastic lightsaber lariats and finally manages a wind-up lariat to level him. Takeshita nearly puts the big dog down with a deadlift German but Ishikawa won’t die. In a great moment, Takeshita goes for the arm trap but Ishikawa busts out and hits a big Fire Thunder Driver! Takeshita’s desperation to hold onto the belt is bleeding into the final stretch with his strikes, to a point where he just starts punching Ishikawa in the face! In the end, the champion’s will to survive is strong, as he takes just about everything in the big dog’s arsenal, but ultimately, Ishikawa is able to hit the Giant Slam to become the new KO-D Openweight Champion. Great finish, with both guys dog-tired but still slugging away, having poured out everything into this match. Hard-hitting action from start to finish, with very little downtime. I’m a little sad to see Takeshita’s reign end, as I was hoping they would build to a rematch between he and Endo, but I’m a big fan of Ishikawa so we’ll see what he does with the belt. Super fun match!

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kazuchika Okada (NJPW, 8/6/16)

On paper, I wasn’t overly excited about this match-up but Ishii is such a maestro in the ring, crafting a really fun underdog tale (although I don’t know if I would call a stone pitbull an underdog) and making Okada’s offense look like a million bucks (i.e. the guardrail-hung DDT). There’s something satisfying about watching Ishii bully Okada with chops, boot scrapes and headbutts. Okada realizes he can’t hang with Ishii in the striking department so he’s got to tap into his movez database to try and defeat him. Okada is fine here, he gets in his usual spots, but Ishii elevates this thing to another level. Little things like the chop during the Rainmaker post and stomping on the foot to get out of the tombstone piledriver attempt. And that finishing stretch was something else, with Ishii ducking and dodging the Rainmaker attempts before landing the big headbutt and ultimately pinning the champ following the brainbuster. Great stuff.

Yuji Nagata vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima (NJPW, 7/30/16)

My girlfriend watched part of this with me and asked "are they really slapping each other?" Yup. Hard. This was a lot of fun, with Nakajima heeling it up early on and getting the jump on Nagata. Both guys sold so well, especially with Nakajima taking some of those knees, and Nagata wasn't holding anything back. Stiff elbows and knees and that slapfest near the end was a great way to cap it off. Grumpy Nagata is the best and the ref can hardly contain him. I liked Nakajima's leg-based strategy, sometimes using it as almost a cheap means of getting out of a hairy situation. If he can take out the old man knees, he can avoid the old man knee strikes. He's able to turn the tables in his favor and finish off Nagata with the PK > brainbuster combo. As good as this was, it suffered from some pretty bad camera work. Nakajima's matured so much and I would love to see him out of the NOAH cesspool and into New Japan. 

Kento Miyahara vs. Jun Akiyama (AJPW, 7/23/16)

This was easily Kento Miyahara's best title defense, and probably his best match of the year so far. It's still a Kento Miyahara match though. Still the same "ace" tropes, the convenient selling, the no-sold superplex rush, but the dynamic between he and Akiyama made this feel special. The grizzled ace that never was, love tapping Miyahara on the face like "let's do this, kid." And the new cocky ace returning the favor like, "here we go, old man." The danger of the front necklock was built well into the match as Akiyama does a number on Kento's neck in preparation, like his piledriver, a reverse DDT on the apron, and a brainbuster. I love his elbow strikes to the neck. Miyahara's selling was okay at best, but he sold in other ways that helped flesh this thing out. The aftermath of the apron spot and Miyahara just barely making it back into the ring only to be met with a running knee and deep front necklock. Great stuff. Akiyama brings the best out of Miyahara's performance, and he was near perfect in this. The risky headbutt during the elbow exchange, his disbelief in Miyahara surviving the EXPLODER '98! and his sad final stand (not literal), crawling through the knee strikes until Kento finally puts him down like a lame horse with last shot. Miyahara's hardest fought defense and a damn fine performance from Akiyama. 

Yuji Okabayashi vs. Hideyoshi Kamitani (7/24/16)

Oh man, here we go. The culmination of all those shoulder blocks and chops, plus Kamitani rocking a spiffy new haircut (and still missing his tooth from the brutal 6/29 six-man encounter). This was about as raw as it gets. There was nothing pretty or flashy about it. Just two dudes slugging it out. Okabayashi clobbers Kamitani with a lariat early on, and Kamitani sells it like death on the outside. Okabayashi is too much of a big boss for Kamitani in the early goings and even when he manages to hit the scoop slam, it takes a lot out of him. Okabayashi continues to try and break the baby-faced killer's spirit, derailing any momentum Kamitani starts building. When Kamitani comes back after a gutwrench slam, he tries putting the big boss to sleep but Yuji fights out and goes ape shit on Kamitani with chops in the corner. Kamitani explodes out with a lariat and lands some brutal shots to the face but again, Okabayashi cuts off his momentum and tries a finishing run of a lariat, a brainbuster and the Golem Splash but Kamitani ain't dying today and Okabayashi can't believe it! I loved Kamitani's counter to the powerbomb with baby boots to the face. Hard slaps, big headbutts, a minor mishap with the powerbomb counter, but Kamitani won't let that little fuck up derail him and he manages to put the big boss down for good after two backdrops! A slow build but plenty of fire and brutality heading into the finishing stretch. Great stuff! 

Konosuke Takeshita vs. Yuko Miyamoto (DDT, 7/3/16)

This was easily Takeshita's strongest performance of the year, and the best KO-D Openweight Title match of 2016. Even though you didn't have the strong sense Miyamoto was going to win this thing, he sure gave Takeshita hell, smartly working the leg with Takeshita doing a good job of keeping it relevant. Even during questionable offensive runs, only one of which came to mind, he still acknowledges the bum leg. Miyamoto's leg-focused attacks looked crisp and effective, from the initial chopping down of Takeshita with dropkicks to simple things, like an elbow drop to the back of the knee. After Takeshita escapes the calf hold, we get some big offense, including a dragon suplex, a German suplex hold counter, and a desperate out-of-nowhere Fire Thunder Driver from Miyamoto. But when he goes for the moonsault, Takeshita sacrifices his bad leg to block it. The final elbow battle was fun. Miyamoto gets a shot in that knocks Takeshita down but he half mad-dogs, half collapses into Miyamoto's elbows in a great moment, before accessing his crazy elbow side. There's a couple of counters and pin attempts before Takeshita ends up hitting a beautiful roll-through German suplex hold for the win. Really fun match, thanks to the focused legwork from Miyamoto, the competent selling of Takeshita, and some big main event-style offense. 

Ayato Yoshida vs. Kyu Mogami (K-DOJO, 5/5/16)

Since watching the one day Super  J-Cup qualifying tournament in K-DOJO, I’ve been wanting to check out some more of Ayato Yoshida. His 5/5 K-METAL LEAGUE match-up with Mogami was a pure and simple textbook wrestling match, with nothing too pretentious. It was a back-and-forth struggle of the sleeper hold/chickenwing facelock versus Mogami’s butterfly lock, supplemented with strikes. Ayato had some particularly hard-hitting open hands and a great looking high kick to the head.  After a flash pin attempt, Mogami smartly rolls right back into his butterfly lock. Unlike most of the Super J-Cup tournament matches, the finish wasn’t rife with poorly executed “junior movez”. After blocking the fisherman buster, Ayato outslaps Mogami, hitting another high kick to the head before dumping him with a big backdrop for the win. Simple, effective, and fun...my kind of match.