Jushin Liger & El Samurai vs. Super Delphin & Takehiro Murahama (Osaka Pro, 5/29/01)

How can you go wrong when Jushin "Thunder" Liger and El Samurai are working dirty, rubbing wrist tape in eyeballs and breaking tag rules. Throw in a fiery babyfaced Takehiro Murahama with his stiff kicks and submissions and hometown Osaka hero, Super Delphin, doing what Super Delphin always does, and you're in for a treat. The exchanges between Liger and Muraham are the definite highlight of the match, and boy, does anyone hit a better tilt-a-whirl backbreaker than Liger? He also powerbombs the shit out of Delphin later in the match. At one point, Liger has Murahama in a leglock and Murahama's trying to slap his way out of it and Liger pokes him in the eyes! Classic heel. Samurai and Delphin are the weaker links of the match but Samurai does hit a sweet jumping piledriver on Murahama. Liger sells Murahama's submissions so well and really gets the crowd behind the younger shooter. When he's working the arm late in the match, utilizing the double wristlock against Liger, it's pretty great. In the end, he takes out Samurai with a somersault plancha which allows Delphin to hit a weak ass swinging DDT on Liger and a pair of shoteis for the satisfying victory.

Dick Togo v. Billy Ken Kid (Osaka Pro, 2/11/10)

Hey, did you know I like Dick Togo a lot? Well, I do, and he was pretty dang great as the dick rudo in his match against Billy Ken Kid. I mean, he attacks Kid in the midst of his streamers, beating him up on the outside and hitting a senton from the ramp to the floor. He badmouths fans, he poses in the corner, he teases the removal of Kid's mask and then just starts ripping it apart. Straight rudo activity. Kid finally gets a little reprieve by taking out Togo and crew with a beautiful tope con hilo, then busts Togo open with a corner dropkick. He can't build enough momentum to put Togo away and when he tries for another dive, he flies straight into a steel chair, which allows Togo to rip the mask completely off, proudly displaying it for the crowd. Kid's trying to stay covered with a towel but when he's finally thrown a new mask, he enters superhero mode. The match lulls for a bit here until Togo hits an RKO out of nowhere! He busts out all the signatures, including the Pedigree>diving senton combo but Kid survives, busting out all of HIS signatures before putting Togo away for good with the Firebird Splash. Dick Togo rules but Kid's a fun babyface in peril.

Takehiro Murahama vs. Black Buffalo (Osaka Pro, 7/22/00)

A terrific three-quarters of a match, with some minor issues during the home stretch. Takehiro Murahama is having one of the better debut years in recent memory, and up against Black Buffalo, you have a neat dynamic of the babyfaced shooter against the gruff brawler trying to take it to the mat. First and foremost, Murahama’s tights are incredible – peak 90’s aesthetic circa 2000. Buffalo’s takedowns aren’t pretty but they’re effective as he takes more of a smothering approach on the canvas. Murahama’s still able to sneak out a leglock through Buffalo’s aggression and when he’s back on his feet, he pops Buffalo with a kick to the hamstring, to which Buffalo smartly rolls away from Murahama. Murahama’s spunky on the mat, running through a number of holds almost as a routine (see above) before settling on an armbar. I loved his leglock counter to the hip toss. Buffalo doesn’t hold back with the open hands and short-arm lariats, and of course, he brings the chair into play. At one point, he’s standing on Murahama’s head while he’s on the ropes and then drops a leg across the back of his neck onto the ropes. Nasty. Just as Murahama starts heating back up, he kicks the ring post, which leads to Buffalo targeting the leg with a chair and figure-four leglocks. Good in-the-moment selling from Murahama but once he pops back up to his feet and starts flinging kicks at Buffalo, he blows off the legwork and then it’s business as usual as they run through their offense to what seemed like a botched finish. A bit of a jarring transition but still, a real good match worth checking out.

Takehiro Murahama vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa (Osaka Pro, 3/25/00)

I do love little shitkickers and Takehiro is a terrific little shitkicker, already showing so much fire and ego three months into his pro-wrestling career. This match is fought in rounds, like Murahama's debut match, and Murahama is just so much more aggressive out of the gate than Hoshikawa, avoiding most of his strikes and laying into him with kicks, punches, and knees. The only real offense Hoshikawa's able to get in the first round is a series of freakout slaps to the grounded Murahama. The second and third rounds are mostly defensive, with some strikes exchanged and groundwork that doesn't go anywhere. In the fourth round, Hoshikawa immediately takes Murahama down with a suplex and tries to cinch in a choke, knowing his only chance to best Murahama is on the mat. The German suplex off the ropes with Murahama struggling to hang on was awesome. When Murahama delivers his own German, Hoshikawa is able to grab an arm upon impact, going from a double wristlock into a jujigatame and nearly scoring the submission before the round ends, saving Murahama's ass. In the final round, Murahama comes out swinging for the fences and pummels Hoshikawa down, stomping away at him while he's on the ground. He's relentless here and Hoshikawa definitely gets brutalized, despite getting a few shots in, before he goes down hard. Pretty awesome fight that felt different than most "shoot-style" affairs.

Osaka Pro "Osaka Pro Legend Story" (1/4/00)

Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Takehiro Murahama

What a trip seeing everybody’s favorite DDT referee Yukinori Matsui in there officiating. As far as debut matches go, I can’t think of one much better than Takehiro Murahama’s debut against Naohiro Hoshikawa, boxing gloves and all. The progression of heated strikes from round to round was incorporated really well into the structure, and while there were a couple of muddled exchanges, Murahama looks like a naturall. In the first round, they land some good hard kicks and Murahama connects with a flurry of punches but they really unload in the second round, with Murahama taking out Hoshikawa with a right hook. He dumps him with a backdrop suplex but Hoshikawa immediately retaliates with a pop-up German suplex throw. In the third round, Hoshikawa lands some stiff kicks and knees while Murahama’s still lobbing jabs. After a belly-to-belly suplex, Hoshikawa maneuvers into an armbar, forcing Murahama to the ropes...but that just sets Murahama off, as he promptly pummels Hoshikawa’s face in, taking him back down with another barrage to end the match. Really good stuff.

Super Delfin vs. Dick Togo

Super Delfin has always had some of the crispiest takedowns in pro-wrestling, and Dick Togo’s no slouch himself. I liked the tempestuous back-and-forth open, with Delfin pulling out perdy little tilt-a-whirl headscissors in and out of the ring. Of course, the match can only stay untainted for so long with Togo’s crew lurking on the outside, and after some shenanigans, Togo gets a hold of a chair and injures Delfin’s leg after a diving double stomp from the apron. Togo’s legwork is grunty and somewhat effective but in the end, felt like filler as Delfin doesn't really sell it and it’s quietly forgotten in the back half. At one point, Delfin tries countering with a rana but Togo turns it into a crab hold > STF, and when he starts to heat up, someone throws a chair at him while he’s on the top turnbuckle. The leg stuff goes away as Delfin fights back for a diving body press to the outside. Back inside, he calls for the tornado DDT but Togo’s able to roll through the attempt and Liger Bomb him for two. Togo builds momentum, delivering the Pedigree into the diving senton, which should've been the finish, but when he tries to double dip on the sentons, he misses, which allows Delfin to drop him with a brainbuster and a shitty tornado DDT. He follows up with back-to-back shoteis, missing the third but correcting himself with a stunner to set-up the third and final shotei for the win. A pretty good match with some cool moments but it was all over the place and the finish sucked.