Osamu Nishimura vs. Jushin Liger (NJPW, 3/29/02)

This was 85% Osamu Nishimura schooling Liger on the mat, working the leg like a part-time job. His approach was aggressive at the outset, whipping it on the apron, throwing a hard elbow, kneebreaking it on the guardrail. Silky smooth transitions, going from a kneelock to a grounded ankle hold when Liger flips over onto his stomach. Liger tries firing back with chops and slaps but Nishimura's able to trip him up, going into the Indian deathlock, bridging back with the sickle hold, then finishing with the bow-and-arrow hold. However, Liger doesn't really sell the legwork, which is unfortunate considering Osamu's effort. In fact, he doesn't really get much offense in at all and in the end, the 15:00 time limit expires with Liger in Osamu's manjigatame. A cool story in theory that wasn't very compelling.

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Osamu Nishimura (NJPW, 8/7/04)

This is a pretty neat little Nishimura formula match-up with Tanahashi holding his own against the veteran early on, really working a side headlock, supplemented with a couple of flashy moves, before going right back to it. When Osamu tries to work in his octopus hold, Tanahashi counters with a side suplex. The narrative here is the legwork, which is smartly introduced when Tanahashi gets tangled in the ropes and Osamu shoves the ref out of the way so he can attack the vulnerable leg. After a kneebreaker on the guardrail, Osamu puts him in the figure-four leglock back inside the ring. Tanahashi's selling is pretty great, especially when he's trying to charge Nishimura in the corner, which allows Nishimura to take him out at the knee with a dropkick. When Nishimura has him back in the figure-four, the desperate Tanahashi is grabbing onto the ref as Nishimura arches back to exert more pressure. The finish is...well, typical of Nishimura matches, seemingly coming out of thin air as Nishimura misses the diving kneedrop and Tanahashi capitalizes with a Shining Wizard and dragon suplex hold to put the veteran away. See-ya.

Koji Kanemoto vs. Osamu Nishimura (NJPW, 8/8/04)

Similar to the Minoru Suzuki, this match sees Osamu Nishimura's spellbook constantly countered by Koji Kanemoto, who works with this perpetual shit eating grin. He's pretty great here with his fakeout spins, reversals, and overall cocky demeanor. He overwhelms Nishimura with kicks, primarily targeting the leg, but also figuring in a couple of facewash spots. There's a point in the match where the ref tries to prevent Kanemoto from attacking Nishimura on the apron...so Kanemoto leapfrogs the ref, dropkicking Nishimura, before following up with a plancha. Osamu can't catch a break as Kanemoto seemingly has an answer for everything. Osamu eats a corkscrew senton to the face and then Kanemoto really digs in with the legwork, with some terrific selling from Osamu. Kanemoto slips out of the backslide attempt, kicks Nishimura in the head and slaps on the grapevined ankle hold.  Koji lands his moonsault press for a nearfall and counters Osamu's roll up by grabbing the injured ankle and bending it...but in true Osamu fashion, he's able to pin Kanemoto's shoulders to the mat to pick up the win. A solid match with a little bit of slop.

Minoru Suzuki vs. Osamu Nishimura (NJPW, 1/4/04)

A short and sweet little affair between surfer dude Minoru Suzuki and Osamu Nishimura, with Suzuki hyper vigilant with his armwork, snatching it at any given opportunity. After a clean break in the corner, Suzuki reminds Nishimura who he is with a smack across the face. Oh boy. They work the mat a bit, running through some counters and reversals. When Nishimura tries for his patented headstand escape, Suzuki snags the prone arm and lays back with a cross armbreaker. Simple but awesome. Suzuki continues to target the arm with kicks and stomps but Nishimura catches a stray, taking him down with the dragon screw legwhip and going into the spinning toeholds to set-up the figure four. But when he goes for it, Suzuki counters again into another armbar. He delivers the Gotch-style piledriver but opts for the submission attempt instead with a reverse armbar. Nishimura's able to survive and tries a few desperate roll ups but on the final backslide, Suzuki seizes the arm with yet another cross armbreaker. The dude's on fire...until the end, when he tries for another takedown and Nishimura's able to pin him with the backslide. Suzuki at his best here.

Jun Akiyama vs. Osamu Nishimura (NJPW, 8/11/03)

This wasn't quite at the same level as the Takayama match for me but it was still a good match, with an especially well-sold performance from Jun Akiyama. Gone is Nishimura's slicked back hair and he's now sporting a fresh buzz for the 2003 G1 Climax. This took a little while to get going as the two go through a few counters and reversals on the mat while looking for an opening. Akiyama takes over on offense with a DDT on the apron and then piledriving Osamu onto the floor to set-up the neckwork. His stuff looks pretty brutal, whether it's the stunner on the ringpost, the stalling piledriver, or the way he viciously cranks on a facelock. Nishimura's subsequent legwork is pretty aggressive too. He kneebreakers Jun onto the timekeeper's table and follows up with a diving knee drop from the apron. He lands another diving knee back inside the ring, setting up the figure-four legwork with a couple of spinning toeholds. Akiyama's selling of the leg is fantastic as Osamu dropkicks his knee out from him and reapplies the figure-four, this time arching back to exert more pressure on the hold. When Akiyama sidesteps a missile dropkick, he goes back to the neck with a dragon sleeper and there's a really awesome moment where he counters the Japanese rolling clutch with a choke sleeper, eventually transitioning into his front necklock. He's able to connect with the high knee > Exploder combo but when he goes for another knee in the corner, Nishimura's able to cradle him for the pinfall in a bit of an upset. Not as nuanced as the Takayama match but still some really neat stuff with Akiyama being the standout here.

Osamu Nishimura vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (NJPW, 8/10/02)

Another fantastic performance from Osamu Nishimura, who gets to showcase his technique against lurch Yoshihiro Takayama. Nishimura's in-ring awareness in this match is phenomenal with his reversals and escapes. He has an answer for whatever Takayama's posing, to the point where a frustrated Takayama sits up after Nishimura counter like "how I keep him down?". There's a lot to love in this match, from Nishimura's run-around reversal or his many bridging escapes -- always having another option in the back pocket. Takayama working the mat is fun but he mostly lays around while Osamu goes to work on him. Nishimura does a good job of keeping the big man down and focusing on the legs to neutralize Takayama's big kicks. Love Osamu's sickle hold but Takayama plays a good counter of his own.

He finally says fuck the grappling and starts kicking Nishimura but when he tries for the big boot in the corner, he gets hung up in the ropes and Nishimura attacks with elbows, hitting a diving knee to set-up the figure-four leglock. And when Takayama reaches the ropes, what does Osamu do? Drags him to the middle, gives the leg a couple of spinning toeholds, and puts the figure-four right back on, bridging this time to put more pressure on the hold. When he's not laying there, Takayama's in-the-moment selling and facials are really good but it's short term.When Nishimura starts kicking the leg, Takayama smacks the shit out of him and hits a pair of belly-to-belly suplexes. After a couple of more counters, Takayama is finally able to snatch Osamu and pin him with the German suplex hold. The finish came out of nowhere but also made the msot sense for the cat-and-mouse game they played throughout.

Osamu Nishimura vs. Hiro Saito (MUGA World, 8/2/06)

Osamu Nishimura is someone who deserves a lot more love. In our modern energy drink-fueled world, I can understand why a guy like Nishimura can't quite capture the short attention spans of the "more is more" pro-wrestling fanbase. He's so detail-orientated and methodical that if you aren't paying close enough attention, you'll miss out on some of the more clever nuances. Same thing with a guy like Hideki Suzuki, who gives every little movement meaning. Nishimura is a fantastic conveyor of struggle and exhaustion and I think against a bruiser like Hiro Saito, it works so well. Saito immediately wants to get Osamu out of the ring and onto his chair-swinging thug level but this is MUGA World, Hiro. Saito's armwork is real grunty and he uses his head and knee to exert more pressure on Osamu. The standing surfboard escape sequence was fun and when Osamu's finally able to reverse it, Saito just walks over into the ropes to break the hold. Osamu's alternating side headlock wrenches are great and he makes really smart use of the Irish whip to get Saito back into the headlock.

Saito starts working over Osamu's neck, often using the ropes a lot to guillotine him, but when he tries for a piledriver, Osamu uses a back bodydrop hold to try and pin Saito down. Osamu goes after the leg with some awesome elbow strikes to the knee and the final few minutes of the match see him cranking away on Saito, using a sickle hold and these cool falling elbow strikes to Saito's knee. Saito's in the moment selling was really good here. After Nishimura misses a diving knee drop, Saito delivers a German suplex hold but the injured leg gives out so he delivers a second German and is able to maintain the bridge for the three count. A cool finish that came out of nowhere. This was definitely a "less is more" type match but the crowd was into it and it's definitely worth checking out.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Osamu Nishimura (MUGA World, 9/25/06)

In the age of purple Mountain Dew and 100% marshmallow Lucky Charms, this is a match I could see the modern wrestling fan hating. Two Japanese dads heating the crowd up with sometimes tired matwork, slow reversals, and zero high spots. But this is a throwback between teacher and student, and while Fujinami isn't near his peak...at all...Nishimura steals the show with his well-sold performance, intuition, and sense of struggle. I loved the way the figure-four played such a central role in this match, with Nishimura scouting it early on and turning the attempt into a small package to pick-up a fall. He goes after Fujinami's arm, supplementing holds with elbow strikes, but really, the story being told is based around Nishimura's leg and Nishimura playing defense. He cracks Fujinami with a desperate kick to the leg and in a moment of delayed selling, Fujinami crumbles...but it's not enough and Fujinami evens the score with a figure-four leglock submission. Nishimura's selling during the final fall is fantastic and he's able to block the succeeding figure-four attempts, finally reversing the third attempt to submit Fujinami in a...well, odd finish, as Nishimura had been working on the arm primarily but you could tell Fujinami's knees weren't in great shape. A charming match that was fun to revisit.