Daisuke Sasaki vs. Shiori Asahi (K-DOJO, 10/15/17)

Simple but smart junior heavyweight wrestling is the best junior heavyweight wrestling, in my opinion, and Daisuke Sasaki is one of the unheralded wizards of the style. This isn't a match that is going to blow many away and that's okay, that's not what they were setting out to do. But it had a little bit of everything, including a great counter-based approach, a couple of high risk spots, and a little comedy with the ropes shenanigans, Asahi's cobra strike, and the ref bumps. Shiori Asahi has a lot of the right tools, especially in his counterwork, but he tends to try to do too much in his matches. He was more grounded here (sometimes not by choice) but he's got a lot of neat touches to his style, like his simple counter to a side headlock. Sasaki goes after the neck early on to set-up for his crossface hold, and like Asahi, he's wrestling more of a grounded approach, though he does pull out his great diving elbow drop to the outside. I thought the octopus hold merry-go-round was fun, and I loved Asahi's answer to the backslide struggle by slipping through the legs into a swanky pin attempt. He's able to slip out of the crossface holds a few times but when Sasaki finally catches him, he uses the crossover version and Asahi quickly taps. An easy, breezy watch well worth your time.

Dick Togo vs. Daisuke Sasaki (DDT/DAMNATION Produce, 4/14/17)

A 30-minute Ultimate Submission match featuring Dick Togo. That's really all you need to know. Togo puts on one of his best performances since returning to wrestling, at least from what I've seen of his work, with Sasaki's weasel heel shtick kept to a minimum (minus the obligatory referee interference). Both men sold well but Togo really shined as he largely fought from underneath, working in some hot comebacks and taking the champ to the limit. Good back-and-forth groundwork to open as each man tries to assert control over the limb of their choice while also teasing the crossface hold. Togo hones in on Sasaki's left arm, using a swank neckscissors with an armbar and tenderizing it for the first submission fall via a chickenwing. Really good selling from Sasaki here as Togo continues the attack, snagging him in a bodyscissors and applying the sleeper to score another submission. 

After some thumping chops from Togo in the corner, Sasaki's able to stop Togo's momentum with a thrust kick to the face and a DDT. He works over Togo's leg and there's a fantastic visual of Togo crawling around on the mat, trying to avoid Sasaki. Loved Sasaki's top rope elbow drop to the back of the knee and the follow-up figure-four leglock, with Togo trying to resist, grabbing the hair out of desperation and looking for a reversal only to succumb to the pressure and give up. Sasaki stays on him, countering out of a Pedigree attempt and catching him in a reverse figure-four to even the score. When Togo's finally able to hit the Pedigree after failing to lock in the crossface hold, his slow ascent to the top is well-sold and allows Sasaki to utilize the referee as a foreign object. The action spills to the floor and back inside, Togo misses a crucial enziguri and Sasaki snags an ankle. Smart counter by Togo but Sasaki gets him in the crossface hold, rolling back to the middle of the ring and trapping the arm to quickly submit him, taking the lead. 

They trade slaps and punches and Togo destroys him with a lariat before hitting the Pedigree > Senton combo and submitting him with the crossface hold to bring it back to 3-3. Togo hits an awesome somersault plancha through the ropes as the clock winds down. They try a few failed crossface efforts and in the end, Togo's able to snag the champ with a cross armbreaker but time expires before he can score the winning submission and the match ends on a draw. Time limit draws can go either way but this one thankfully goes the right way, thanks to the performances of both men, especially Togo. Between this and the first Sekimoto/Suzuki match, time limit draws are ruling in 2017. 

Daisuke Sasaki vs. Yukio Sakaguchi (5/8/16)

Daisuke Sasaki is one of the smarter indie workers in Japan and a personal favorite of mine. A few hiccups aside, this was a pretty good match with some little things from Sasaki that added to the narrative. Yukio with zero respect for Sasaki in this. There's some cat-like action to start with Yuji swinging for the fences with his kicks. He wants this on the ground and Sasaki does his best to try and stay on top. Sasaki goes in with this defensive stance and in a great moment, Yukio tries to take off his arm with a kick and then promptly knees the fuck out of him. Sasaki works the underdog role against Yukio's ground-and-pound shoot-style approach. Yukio drapes him in the corner for the running knee but Sasaki smartly slips out to the apron and catches him with a dragon screw legwhip into the ropes. When they do that spot again, it's in a way that makes sense. There's a couple of nonsensical set-ups and stalling in this but nothing too offensive. Yukio's strikes look really solid and impactful in that snappy Shibata-like way. When he's got Sasaki in the choke sleeper, he smartly traps the arm and forces him to use a foot for the rope break. 

Sasaki's good at stringing together his offense in a realistic way. For example, Sasaki comes back with a dragon suplex, a superkick and fisherman driver for two before quickly transitioning into the crossface hold, not giving Yukio a moment's relief. Some great selling from Sasaki as well, especially when Yukio is blasting him with knees. There's a little bit of tomfoolery leading to the finish as Sasaki tricks Yukio into kicking the ref before hitting a deliberate low blow and a diving elbow drop, only to realize the ref is still down. A funny moment but one that made sense for the match, as Sasaki seemed like he was in danger of losing his title and desperation set in.  He then goes on to hit a beautiful dropkick, a top rope Pedigree and the super indy Vietnam Driver II for the win. Fun stuff!