Katsuyori Shibata vs. Satoshi Kojima (NJPW, 3/19/16)

This was great stuff -- lots to love on. The mounting frustration of Shibata, his great submission counters to the lariat. The early submission stuff was more or less filler  (although the figure-four reversals were fun) but the focused armwork and attack by Shibata was a compelling narrative, and Kojima did a solid job of expressing the exhausted determination. Plenty of stiff shots, too, especially Kojima's elbows.  After Shibata kicks out the arm of Kojima, he smells the blood and gets to work. The missed lariat to the ring post added to the story, and Shibata kept it relative throughout. I loved Kojima's angry apron lariat to the back of Shibata's knee. Shibata's slow grinding boot scrapes are an added touch but he's no Ohtani with his running face washes. There's a fun back suplex exchange and then they go at it for a while with the elbows and Kojima gets especially feisty in the corner. Shibata gets a couple of big spots with a PK and a Death Valley Bomb but Kojima comes back with a top rope Cozy Cozy Cutter. Great spot where Shibata blocks a right arm lariat with a boot so Kojima sucks in the pain and blasts him with his left arm. Shibata counters another lariat attempt with an armbar takedown and although Kojima hits another, he sells the pain and can't finish him off. Nice brainbuster gets a big nearfall for Kojima but in the end, Shibata has him scouted out and counters the final lariat attempt with the sleeper hold, wearing him down enough for the PK to be the nail in the coffin. Awesome performance by Kojima who sacrificed the shit out of his arm to try and take down Shibata but the great ring awareness of the champ allowed him to hang onto his title. 

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Katsuyori Shibata (NJPW, 2/11/16)

A macho tale of the thresholds of pain tolerance and how to break them. Maybe not as cringe-inducing as their Wrestle Kingdom 10 match-up but perhaps a more complete round of friendly violence. Shibata mocks the neck chops early on, which leads to an extended forearm battle. The "suplex me" sequence is silly but for this kind of manly competition, it totally works. Shibata chops the spit out of Ishii's throat and he sells like he's about to die -- Ishii was great throughout. Shibata took a sensible approach and tried to choke out/pass out Ishii, which made the finish extra special. The headbutts to the chest were a little easier on the ears but not that final spurt with the Shibata spinning backhand and subsequent slap-the-shit-out-of-each-other battle. The crowd was hot, commentary was vocal, CJ Parker was looking on from ringside. All in all, a great night for a fight. An inch above the WK match.