Yuki Ishikawa & Carl Malenko vs. Kazunari Murakami & Naoyuki Taira (BattlARTS, 9/7/00)

The HATE between Yuki Ishikawa and Kazunari Murakami permeates throughout the whole match, whereas Carl Malenko and Naoyuki Taira are, more or less, left to their own devices, even into the finish, where Malenko has Taira in a crossface hold and Murakami's more concerned with staring down Ishikawa then breaking up the submission. Rewind, Murakami promptly jumps Ishikawa at the start of the match and Ishikawa catches him, deadlifting him into a German suplex like "what bitch?!" The work on the mat between them is aggressive, with Ishikawa clawing Murakami's face when he tries to block the headbutts. Meanwhile, last time we saw Taira, who was "way too oily" in RINGS and now he's coming into BattlARTS with spin kicks and shitty little smirks. The stuff between he and Malenko was a lot of fun, with Malenko showing off with takedowns and transitions, and Taira blasting him with knees and kicks for knockdowns. One thing I really like about Malenko is the way he sinks into submission holds. But then we're back to Murakami/Ishikawa, with Murakami kicking him out of the ring, scraping around the crowd, kicking chairs and shit, throwing his mouthguard at Ishikawa. Lovely stuff. They continue thrashing each other on the mat until Ishikawa catches him with an armbreaker on the ropes, which plays into their eventual awesome singles match later int he year. In the end, they're too busy mean mugging each other to care about Malenko's sweet submission finish. Lots to love on here.

NJPW "Dome Impact 2000" (4/7/00)

Don Frye vs. Koji Kanemoto

Don Fyre has such a good look, long hair or short, and he came off like a big badass here, but gave Koji Kanemoto enough to keep this interesting for the most part. Kanemoto isn't one to back down from a fight and I like that he stepped up to Frye, smacked in the face, and then immediately gets belly-to-belly suplexed down and put into a submission. Frye's limbwork was real grunty and calloused, which is obvious when you take a look at him, but Kanemoto's a sly cat and will grab a leg when he can. He lands a moonsault onto Frye's back off the missed spear and Frye lets loose a terrific F-Bomb when Kanemoto's got him in a leglock before he boots his way out the hard way. Then he clobbers Koji with a few elbows and submits him with a leglock.

Satoshi Kojima vs. Shinjiro Ohtani

Both entrance themes rule -- what a transition period 2000 was. I really liked the hot opening with the hard open hands exchanged and Ohtani going after the elbow/lariat arm and getting in some of his signature spots. But when Kojima takes over on offense, he more or less blows off the armwork and just shows off his dominance to the point where he attempts his own facewash...and fails. I liked the Koji Cutter spot off the missed spinning heel kick and Ohtani's reaction to the nearfall off the dragon suplex hold was great. Other than that, Kojima kind of stunk it up.

Kazunari Murakami vs. Takashi Iizuka

I love the visual of Takashi Iizuka running down the rampway toward the ensuing chaos in the ring...and then immediately getting pummeled and taken out by Murakami. Whenever Iizuka is able to get a submission hold locked on, it feels like a big deal and while the groundwork is rather simple, the struggle conveyed from both sides really adds to the gritty feel of the match. Iizuka being a dope on the ropes, not letting go and then pounding Murakami in the back of the head was great. I think this could've benefited from being shorter but whatever, we got Murakami trying to goad Iizuka back to his feet after blasting him with a kick, and the slack-jawed looks of Inoki and Fujinami at ringside. As the match heads home, you can really see the frustration in Iizuka's strikes and when he's able to get the choke sleeper on Murakami, it's huge. It's hard to put a rapid dog to sleep but Iizuka snags him off the ropes and finally puts him down. Good stuff.

Shinya Hashimoto vs. Naoya Ogawa

Slimmed up and shaved down Shinya Hashimoto is oddly reminiscent of Monster Morning himself, Manabu Nakanishi. This was pretty damn great in the way they were able to keep the lines blurred. Early into the match, Naoya Ogawa is being real shitty and brash with his knockdowns and then gets caught off guard with that Hash legsweep from the outside, which allows Hash the opportunity to lay into him to the point that Murakami has to come into the ring in Ogawa's defense. The reactions Hashimoto elicits from the fans with his takedowns are awesome as he keeps trying to cut out Ogawa's legs. I thought the STO struggle and escalation of impact was done really well, with Hash first countering with the DDT and then just kicking the shit out of Ogawa's leg in frustration before Ogawa is finally able to put him down after the choke sleeper > STO combo. Pretty awesome match.

BattlARTS (3/25/00)

Yuki Ishikawa & Naoki Sano vs. Alexander Otsuka & Kazunari Murakami

Kazunari Murakami and Yuki Ishikawa have such good chemistry together -- Murakami's always coming out rabid and swinging, and the cooler Ishikawa is just trying to get the takedown and submission. Murakami is one of the few guys out there whose sloppiness actually adds to the match and his charm. I love the way Alexander Otsuka maneuvers around the mat and floats around his opponent (with Sano here) as he's constantly looking for an opening to suplex or a limb to snag. The brawling on the outside was awesome with Ishikawa jacking Murakami with these gnarly elbow shots and rolling around with him on the collapsed chairs. And when Murakami kicks Sato in the butt after the big dive and commentary lols...precious. I thought Ishikawa's deadlift German to Otsuka as he's crawling to his corner was incredible, and of course, Otsuka answers with a nasty release dragon. Oh, and Otsuka makes the best saves. Really good match that flies right by, despite the 30:00 time limit draw. 

Daisuke Ikeda vs. Katsumi Usuda

A lot of stiff love, with Usuda opening the match with all these shitty little headbutts before trying to choke out Ikeda. Then he starts snapping off kicks, landing a couple of headshots to Ikeda, who stumbles around until he runs into a shot that knocks him flat. Really great hard kicks from Usuda throughout. Of course, Ikeda dishes it back, waylaying Usuda with a big right hand before clobbering the fuck out of him with a lariat on the ropes. Usuda spends some time going after the arm, doing a good job of maneuvering around Ikeda's escape or counter attempts to stay in control. Loved when Ikeda freaks out on him with his punts, stomps, and kicks. Really liked the finish too, with Ikeda grabbing the arm, rolling around into a Fujiwara armbar, and then laying on him with the choke sleeper until Usuda's eyes go white. Too bad this was clipped because this ruled. 

Naomichi Marufuji vs. Kazunari Murakami (NOAH, 6/8/07)

Every Kazunari Murakami match has blood in it -- I mean, how else are you going to get him to lick it up? From a visual standpoint, it works. When you look at Murakami, with his wicked smile, you expect him to bust somebody open, possibly himself, and revel in it. Before Marufuji can even make his grand entrance, Marukami has already bloodied him. He takes him down to the ring and rams him headfirst into the ring post before showing off the carnage to the fans and licking the blood from Marufuji's forehead. What a nutjob. He tries choking Marufuji with a chair but once Marufuji gets a hold of it, he cracks it over Murakami's head a couple of times before getting him into the ring, where he starts paintbrushing him with slaps in the corner and choking him with his boot. He dumps him with a couple of German suplexes and they go back-and-forth with the slaps as the match momentum shifts into the next gear and Marufuji heats up on offense. He lands a couple of superkicks with the crowd behind him but...then Murakami hits back-to-back STOs and a lariat and it's over. Anti-climatic finish but a fun match while it lasted, with a post-match bonus beatdown from Murakami.

Yuji Nagata vs. Kazunari Murakami (NJPW, 1/4/06)

This didn't quite hit the same highs as their 2002 match, but it was still fun for the most part, especially in the back half. It's kind of a mess to start as they scramble around until Nagata's able to fire off an Exploder after dodging a penalty kick. Nagata's kicks and knees look good, and he's able to bust Murakami's mouth with a knee on the outside...but on the flip, some of his strikes look weak as hell. Of course, it wouldn't be a Murakami match without blood and the image of it dripping out of his mouth is rather frightening. Nagata unloads on him in the final few minutes, hitting a brainbuster and a head kick. Murakami's gassed at this point, desperately swinging for the fences and missing, which allows Nagata to hit a nasty backdrop, followed by the backdrop hold for the pinfall.

Yuji Nagata vs. Kazunari Murakami (NJPW, 12/12/02)

One of the most interesting aspects of any Kazunari Murakami match is watching how his opponents manage his rabid dog-style in the ring, and for the most part, the strategy is predictable: let the dog tire himself out and then sink in a submission hold. Yuji Nagata, IWGP Heavyweight Champion, uses the same approach, absorbing Murakami's wild swings and stomps before taking control of the situation with a suplex and finding some leverage on the ground. Of course, when jerkface Murakami's able to get an armbar takedown, he refuses to let go in the ropes, which leads to some shenanigans on the outside.

When Nagata's returned to the ring, he's a red mess and Murakami continues punishing him on the mat, at one point, licking Nagata's blood from his forearm because why not? Nagata dripping blood while Murakami's wrenching back with the facelock is quite the visual. Nagata's finally had it and he lays into Murakami with some good looking knees and starts disarming him with his patented reverse armbar, breaking it down in between holds with armbreakers on repeat or stripping the elbow pad and stomping away. In one final act of desperation, Murakami tries to sneak in a sleeper hold off the interference, foaming at the mouth (not literally) as he tries to defeat Nagata. But Nagata dumps him with a belly-to-back suplex, then using the armbreakers to set-up three consecutive wrist-clutch Exploders to put down Murakami. Pretty great match.

Kazunari Murakami vs. Yuki Ishikawa (BattlARTS, 11/26/00)

Kazunari Murakami looks like the Japanese version of the Joker with his twisted grin and little to no regard for the human condition. He's wild and unpredictable, coming right out of the gate kicking and swinging for the fences. Yuki Ishikawa does all he can to quell the maelstrom of Murakami's violence by avoiding the big blows and trying to take Murakami down to the canvas. He's able to force Murakami to the ropes, at one point utilizing an Indian deathlock, but once Murakami slips in the choke, the momentum shifts in his favor. He batters Ishikawa into a corner, busting his mouth with a right hand before they spill over to the outside and wonderful chaos ensues. They throw each other into the crowd and exchange strikes but Murakami gets the better of him, leaving him a bloody mess on the floor. He's able to coolly counter Ishikawa's armbreaker attempt with a choke, slinging him back inside the ring only to continue the barrage of kicks and punches. Ishikawa's finally had it and slugs Murakami in the face, headbutts him, and chokes him out with the guillotine. A short, spurt of aggression and mean looks. Bravo.

Kazunari Murakami & Kohei Sato vs. Akira Joh & Keisuke Okuda (NEW, 7/7/17)

Akira Joh and Keisuke Okuda walked into the lion's den against boss Kazunari Murakami and his underling thug Kohei Sato. Try as they might, and they tried relatively hard...despite some of their strikes looking like cheeky kisses compared to the opposition...this was more or less an extended squash with Murakami throwing punches, headbutts, and a couple of judo throws in his strictly business attire. At one point, Sato shushed the crowd so that they could collectively hear the thunk of his headbutt. Whenever Joh or Okuda would sizzle a bit, they'd run into a big punch from Murakami. When Murakami finally strips off the jacket and dress shirt, he gets German suplexed on his head. But by this point in the match, Joh is wasted and crawls helpless into an STO from Murakami, who delivers a second STO to put the boys away for good. This was...something...but I'm always down for a good ole-fashioned beatdown and Murakami kicking ass in a trashy 1980's nightclub suit jacket is kind of amazing.

Shinya Hashimoto & Takashi Iizuka vs. Naoya Ogawa & Kazunari Murakami (NJPW, 1/4/00)

This ain't pretty, folks. It's chaotic, reckless, and chock full of the best kind of hate...not that this is an official endorsement for hate. Murakami gives zero fucks for Iizuka or the refree or the New Japan fans. He beats the snot out of Iizuka and leaves him lifeless on the canvas while Hashimoto comes in to his defense and fights off the evil Murakami and Ogawa but the match falls apart quickly. The fans are pissed off, throwing trash in the ring, and Inoki has to step in to restore some order and re-start the match. Iizuka's a mess and Hashimoto's trying to figure out if they can keep going but Iizuka wants to finish this fight. Murakami gets the jump on him again but Iizuka is able to snag an arm, force the armbreaker, and the fans shit their seats. Iizuka's punches look like kisses but he's able to do his part on the mat and try to keep Murakami grounded. Murakami is such an insufferable prick throughout this. He does such a fantastic job of keeping the heat on. Even when Hashimoto gets the tag, he doesn't stop fighting with Iizuka until Hashimoto kicks him in the head.

The energy from the Tokyo Dome for Hashimoto vs. Ogawa is ridiculous, and the fans want nothing more than Hashimoto to kill him. Love Hash's shoot headbutt in the ropes before he starts clobbering Ogawa to the ground. When Ogawa tries for the side headlock takeover, Hashimoto backdrops him. Great selling from Ogawa throughout these exchanges, plenty of stiff shots with Hashimoto egging him on. After Ogawa starts STO'ing everyone, Iizuka comes back for the big dropkick assist, Hashimoto tries to break Ogawa's arm on the outside, and Iizuka gets his redemption with a satisfying submission win on Murakami. Murakami's faceplant on the rear naked choke was a great visual. The atmosphere was amazing, the interactions hate-filled, Murakami was the despicable man here, and the Ogawa/Hashimoto delivered on most levels, even if it was cut a bit short. 

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.