UWFi (1991)

Continuing the thread of promotion guidebooks, here's UWFi in its 1991 debut year.

Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Masahito Kakihara (UWFi, 5/10/91)

A cool little match-up. I loved how Kakihara faked like he was going to just grapple with Tamura before he unleashes his traditional flurry of strikes. Tamura shows off some skill on the mat but again, Kakihara’s hands are all over him like fly swatters. When he does get some breathing room, Tamura’s in-ring awareness is shines through, as he’s constantly grabbing limbs, settling into holds and avoiding the bigger blows from Kakihara to get a takedown. When Kakihara misses the big spinning heel kick, Tamura stays on him with knees to the ribs and a nasty shot to the face. When he starts swinging for the fences, missing wildly, Tamura coolly takes him down with a belly-to-belly slam. Kakihara finally grazes him with another spinning heel kick and follows up with another that squarely hits the mark. He then applies a front necklock, deadlifting Tamura with almost a brainbuster. The exhaustion faction plays into the finish of the match, as Kakihara is sluggish, trying to trade kicks with Tamura, and Tamura catches a leg for a takedown. Kakihara’s able to counter with a leglock of his own, but Tamura re-counters and Kakihara taps out.

Kazuo Yamazaki & Tatsuo Nakano vs. Yoji Anjoh & Yuko Miyato (UWFi, 5/10/91)

This was a lot of fun. Nakano spent the early minutes shielding himself from Miyato's quick hands and Anjoh's elbows. He does get off a nice throw>elbow to the back of Anjoh's head before he tags in Yamazaki. Yamazaki and Anjoh mostly fight for holds on the ground, which is fine, but when Miyamoto destroys Nakano's nose during a spat of palm thrusts, the match really settles in for a great bumpy ride. Nakano's pissed and retaliates with a German suplex. When Yamazaki tags in, he immediately high kicks Miyato in the head. Whenever Nakano and Anjoh are in there, they're sneaking in dirty elbow shots to the head -- Anjoh really gives it to Nakano at one point. Yamazaki's selling during the finish stretch where he's just taking punishment from both Miyato and Anjoh was really good.

Tatsuo Nakano vs. Yoji Anjoh (UWFi, 6/6/91)

This turned into quite the dirty scrap, as Anjoh stayed aggressive throughout this match, smashing Nakano's nose during a barrage of stiff shots. A bloodied Nakano manages a full nelson suplex on Anjoh, but then Anjoh locks in the choke sleeper, Nakano's blood smeared across his arm, and Nakano tries to fight out but ultimately taps out. And Anjoh doesn't let go. What a dick.

Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Yoji Anjoh (UWFi, 7/3/91)

This match is great. Tamura is already so good early into his career, having only wrestling eight or so matches prior to facing Anjoh. He's slick as catshit, utilizing his speed to his advantage -- I mean, it's hard to even keep track of him at times. Anjoh can't do too much on the mat without Tamura managing to slip out and away. He'll grab an arm and Tamura will maneuver his legs around to get back to a vertical base, controlling Anjoh with a front facelock. While Tamura keeps going back to the rear naked choke, Anjoh targets the leg throughout to set up the finish. But there's just so many cool little moments in this match. At one point, Tamura rolls through with an armbar attempt and Anjoh catches the leg but Tamura simply stands up out of it. When Anjoh isn't going after the leg, he's throwing knees. He repeatedly knees Tamura in the back of the head but Tamura doesn't let go of the arm, slipping out to his feet and smacking Anjoh. Tamura's front necklock counter with the go-behind into the rear naked choke was a thing of beauty. Then he just starts stomping the back of Anjoh's head, putting the fear of God in him. By the end, things aren't quite as silky as they're both fighting over holds and avoiding takedowns. The referee doesn't do shit when Anjoh grabs Tamura's hair as he's trying to turn him over into the crab hold. In the end, all that legwork pays off for Anjoh as he's able to crank on a sick single leg crab hold for the submission victory.

Nobuhiko Takada vs. Tatsuo Nakano (UWFi, 7/3/91)

Fun match. Takada was able to avoid the German suplex throughout, but there were some fun teases and transitions, with Nakano grabbing the rear naked choke and rallying the fans behind him. Match really picks up when Nakano rushes him against the ropes with strikes and snap suplexes him. Takada's kicks looked good, Nakano's underdog defense worked well -- I especially liked the catch into the calf hold and then turning that into a pretty nasty side headlock on Takada.

Tatsuo Nakano vs. Yuko Miyato (UWFi, 7/30/91)

This was actually a lot of fun. Things get really heated in there at times with their strike exchanges and, like pretty much every match, Nakano's nose gets busted. There is a lot of good counterwork and takedowns, and when Nakano's pissed, he dumps Miyato with the German suplex. There's also a point where he almost capture suplexes Miyato out of the ring as things escalate in violence. A good little Nakano showcase and a strong finish with the choke to win. Really good stuff.

Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Billy Scott (UWFi, 7/30/91)

This was short and semi-sweet. Scott looks like such a dope with his mullet and singlet but when he comes out hot and heavy with the palm thrusts and knees, he becomes more of an asskicker dope. I thought there was good struggle on the mat, even though Yamazaki looked like he was going through the motions at times, and I liked Scott's out-of-nowhere backdrop into the elevated single leg crab. Yamazaki adds a little spicy mustard to his kicks toward the end, and Scott trying to build momentum to the German was cool, only to get German suplexed in turn and choked out with the front guillotine.

Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Tatsuo Nakano (UWFi, 9/26/91)

A fun contrast of styles, with Tamura utilizing his smooth takedowns to stay on top of Nakano and look for an opening on the mat. The match takes a bit to get going but when Tamura goes for a double leg takedown, he runs smack into Nakano's classic reflex knee to the face. That gives Nakano a bit of confidence, as he starts trying to bulldoze Tamura down but of course, Tamura being Tamura manages to find a way to coolly reverse a hold or counter the attack. At one point, Tamura tries for a headlock takedown and Nakano grabs a rear choke – almost a crossface chickenwing – and drags him down to the canvas. Tamura continues trying to get holds on Nakano but the little meatball doesn't really budge...so he starts smacking him around instead, or dumping him straight on top of his head with a waterwheel throw. Nakano keeps fighting 'til the very end as he tries elbowing out of the hold before submitting.

Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Yoji Anjoh (UWFi, 9/26/91)

I liked Anjoh's early defense, avoiding the German and keeping Yamazaki on the ground. His leg trip into the Fujiwara armbar was neat. They spend most of the match on the mat before Anjoh starts laying into Yamazaki with knees and kicks for a couple of knockdowns. There's a weird spot where Yamazaki finally hits the German suplex hold and Anjoh looks to counter that with a double wristlock but then rolls off with some delayed selling. The finish was cool too, with Anjoh trying for the rolling kneebar and Yamazaki countering with the neck crank.

Yoji Anjoh vs. Billy Scott (UWFi, 10/6/91)

Billy Scott continues to find comfort in shoot-style and this was probably his best solo outing to date. But still has an awful haircut.They open with a mad scramble and Scott lets Anjoh know early on that he ain't taking any of his shit. He kicks Anjoh in the face when they're tied up on the ground and when they're back on their feet, they're flinging hands and going kind of nuts, which is great. The groundwork throughout is a mess but that doesn't stop Billy from trying. I really like his German suplex lift into the Rock Bottom and his arm-trap judo throw but he can't really follow up on the mat. He does throw some mean palm strikes though. In the end, Anjoh catches him with a nasty knee strike in the corner, throws him with a dope belly-to-belly, but on the mat, Scott rolls him up, fucks the finish and Anjoh ends up tapping to a weak-looking neck crank. Good match nevertheless.

Masahito Kakihara vs. Jim Boss (UWFi, 12/22/91)

A stiff little sub-five undercard treat with Slappy Kaki coming right out of the gate and swatting the hell out of Boss repeatedly. Boss doesn't really know what to do but gets some retribution by dumping Kakihara with a release German suplex and then running over and punt kicking him in the head. He shoves the ref aside and keeps pounding on him in the corner as the fans let him have it. Kaki slaps his way back in control and his final head kick KO to Boss looked scary.

Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Gary Albright (UWFi, 12/22/91)

A good match-up with Albright using his size and weight on the mat and Tamura, of course, using his finesse to get Albright on the ground for a submission. Albright at one point has Tamura's leg and Tamura is able to take him down with a slick kneebar transition. Albright keeps trying for this inverted necklock and he ends up snapping Tamura over with a necklock suplex>inverted necklock. Of course, he throws a few more suplexes and ends up KO'ing Tamura with a German.

Tatsuo Nakano vs. Kiyoshi Tamura (UWFi, 9/26/91)

A fun contrast of styles, with Tamura utilizing his smooth takedowns to stay on top of Nakano and look for an opening on the mat. The match takes a bit to get going but when Tamura goes for a double leg takedown, he runs smack into Nakano's classic reflex knee to the face. That gives Nakano a bit of confidence, as he starts trying to bulldoze Tamura down. Of course, Tamura is Tamura, and he manages to find a way to coolly reverse a hold or counter the attack, which he does by grabbing a rear wristlock, maneuvering around into a front mount and peppering Nakano with palm strikes, poking his eyeball at one point.  At one point, Tamura tries for a headlock takedown and Nakano grabs a rear choke – almost a crossface chickenwing – and drags him down to the canvas. Tamura continues trying to get holds on Nakano but the little meatball doesn't really budge...so he starts smacking him around instead, or dumping him straight on top of his head with a waterwheel throw. In the end, Tamura's finally able to cinch in a heel hook or calf hold (hard to tell from the camera angle) and Nakano tries to elbow his way out before eventually giving up the ghost.

Tatsuo Nakano vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (UWFi, 7/22/95)

Tatsuo Nakano gives zero fucks about the size of his opponent. He just runs right at Yoshihiro Takayama and into those giant knees. Takayama's offense in this match is mostly limited to knees because Nakano dominates him for about 90% of the match, blasting him with tons of kicks to the head and quick slappy hands. When he wasn't striking, Nakano showed a lot more on the mat than he usually does, utilizing some cool takedowns and reversals, including a neat choke counter to the armlock. Takayama even gets to show off a bit, using his swanky double wristlock takedown when Nakano teased a German suplex. The German suplex was built up nicely throughout the match, playing into the finish. Takayama, down 11 points, finally Germans Nakano and goes into rolling front necklock to submit him. Nakano's a joy as always.

Tatsuo Nakano vs. Genichiro Tenryu (WAR, 5/26/96)

Genichiro Tenryu wants nothing to do with Tatsuo Nakano. Here, Nakano comes out like he’s in a shoot and Tenryu’s hunched over, hands on knees, looking like a Little Leaguer at short stop. Nakano snaps off one kick and Tenryu immediately pummels him into a corner with hard sumo slaps. One of the reasons I love Nakano is his unwillingness to let up. Even when he's clearly outsized, Nakano keeps kneeing and kicking Tenryu in the head. At times, Tenryu doesn't quite know how to react to him, or the blows he's receiving. I loved Nakano's rear choke with the headbutts, pounding on Tenryu long enough to German suplex him, then floating right into the armbar. He manages to get the full extention on the armbar but this is Wrestle and Romance, not RINGS, so Tenryu doesn't immediately tap out...or at all. Nakano continues to rush him with kicks, with Tenryu able to slap him off momentarily before Nakano comes right back with more high kicks. Finally, Tenryu decides he's done taking kicks from Nakano and takes out his leg, submitting him with the single leg crab in under five minutes. A weird pairing but pretty awesome spectacle to say the least.

Masahito Kakihara vs. Tatsuo Nakano (UWFi, 12/5/93)

Well, for starters, this isn't quite as gory as their previous match-up, which is an automatic downgrade...but hey, it's almost October, I need my slasher wrestling matches. They take their time feeling each other out until Nakano's had enough and starts cracking Kaki's hamstring with his stubby kicks. When Kaki grabs a leg, Nakano tries to keel his way out of it but Kaki fires off some kicks and slaps and Nakano's such a little shit that he's actually taunting Kaki while getting kicked on the mat. Nakano gets back to his feet, slaps and knees Kaki in the face, clearly pissed off by what's taken place, and perhaps the move of the match is his dragon suplex into the grounded full nelson hold. But Kaki's able to escape out and lock in the sleeper, submitting Nakano but Nakano's like "what the fuck, ref?" and again, he's clearly pissed off by what's taken place. I heart Nakano.

Masahito Kakihara vs. Tatsuo Nakano (UWFi, 9/21/92)

On the debut episode of Fighting Network FRIENDS, Andy and I gushed over this violent little gem between Masahito Kakihara and Tatsuo Nakano. Having been gone through much of the 1980's UWF, Nakano bulldogged his way into my heart with his mullet headbutts and knee strikes. He usually finds himself getting busted open but never stops the fight. This time around, Kakihara splatters Nakano's nose with his classic gambit of E. Honda-style open hands and the blood is gushing. Through the gore, he's able to slow Kaki down on the ground with a leglock and I like the combo of the knee > front neck chancery takeover, throwing some salt in the wound with a cheap shot kick. The blood really adds something to the match, with Kaki's grip slipping during a takedown attempt. As usual, Kakihara sets himself up for the big spinning heel kick but misses, which leads to the brutal finish from Nakano: smack, stomp, submit via single leg crab. One of the best sub-five minute matches I've seen and a terrific job of blurring the line between what's real and what's worked.

BJW/Masahito Kakihara Produce "KAKI RIDE" (8/14/17)

Big Japan helped produced this special event as a way to support Masahito Kakihara, who has been suffering from malignant lymphoma since 2014. The event saw the return of Kakihara to the ring, in a sparring session with grapple legend, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, but everything else was fought under "UWF Rules", meaning points deducted for rope breaks, knockdowns, and in the case of Minoru Suzuki, penalties. On a whole, this was a really fun show and something I'd love to see BJW produce more often. Nothing super high end but I did have a few notes on the show. 

- In his sparring session, Kakihara tapped to Fujiwara a total of ten times. There wasn't much to this, some neat little tricks by Fujiwara, but the best moment came when Fujiwara smoked and ashed an imaginary cigar while had Kakihara in a headlock. Oh yeah.

- Minoru Tanaka managed to wrestle his best match of the year in just under 3:00 against Masakatsu Funaki. Funaki immediately whaps him in the forehead with a kick, and then they scramble around the mat with a real sense of urgency, trying to sink something in. Minoru's able to escape an armbar attempt but gets caught in a triangle and taps out.

- Tatsuo Nakano, still rocking that badass mullet, fought Daisuke Nakamura in a match that definitely over delivered. You've got Nakamura flying fancy round the mat and Nakano being Nakano just knees him in the face, dumps him with an armtrap release German, and submits him with the single leg crab. 

- Hideki Suzuki once again took former student Takuya Nomura to school on the mat, being real nasty with his forearms to the face and knees to the throat. I love the way he manipulates Nomura's arm with the wristlock in order to assert dominance. It seems Nomura's learned a thing or two from their match earlier in the year, where Suzuki basically smothered him into giving up, as he's able to avoid getting suplexed by sitting down and maintains arm control long enough to force Suzuki to the ropes. He's able to let loose a little flurry of strikes but Suzuki's too good, and the finish was swanky as fuck, as Suzuki counters out of the waistlock with a front necklock and then goes into the double arm suplex hold for the submission. 

- Rocky Kawamura (sans boxing gloves) always find a way of pissing off Minoru Suzuki. Suzuki was pretty great here. After landing a few slaps, he tries for the Gotch-style piledriver because you might as well and when Kawamura avoids it, Suzuki grabs the leg and cranks away, forcing Rocky to the ropes. When Rocky uses a jujigatame on Suzuki and doesn't let go after Minoru makes the ropes, the "oh no you didn't" look on Suzuki's face is fantastic. He tries to choke out Rocky, then starts kicking, stomping, and headbutting away, receiving a couple of yellow cards from the ref. Rocky fires off a few jabs but Suzuki's able to snatch an arm and wrench in the wakigatame for the submission. 

- Naomichi Marufuji doesn't have a whole lot of experience wrestling under "UWF Rules" and when he keeps revisiting the ropes on the ground, it becomes obvious that the only way he's going to beat Takaku Fuke is via strikes. He is able to secure a keylock but that's about as close as he gets to submitting Fuke. In the end, Fuke starts laying in the slaps and knees in the corner and out of nowhere, Marufuji connects with the Koo for the KO victory. Cool shorts, Maru. 

Nobuhiko Takada vs. Tatsuo Nakano (UWF, 5/28/90)

Neither guy is particular exciting on the mat and unfortunately, this match sees them spending quite a bit of time on the ground. Seriously, you can see a couple dudes in the crowd falling asleep. Not to mention Nakano, whose usually a pissy little warthog, seemed to be playing nice with Takada here. He does connect with a few headbutts and tries to choke him out, dumping Takada on his head with a German when that doesn't work and then unloading on him in the corner. But Takada quickly shuts him with a flurry of strikes. Nakano doesn't want to stay down for Takada but by the end of the match, despite the crowd cheering him on, it's obvious Nakano's optimal match length is less than 15 minutes. He's barely hanging on in the final minutes, firing off a last gasp spurt of slaps, before Takada wears him down on the mat...slowly...finally submitting him without much of a struggle from Nakano. Meh.

Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Tatsuo Nakano (UWF, 5/4/90)

I love Tatsuo Nakano matches because you know things are going to get real ugly and real scrappy, and that's exactly what you get here with a bloody-nosed shitkicker Nakano, who just pounds on Kazuo Yamazaki until the more proficient Yamazaki can find an opening and sink his proverbial submission teeth in. Early on, you've got snug slaps exchanged before Nakano starts with some nasty shoot headbutts from the front mount. He throws a lot of great suplexes throughout the match, including a release Northern Lights to escape the headlock. Things cool down on the mat as they work some holds and Nakano isn't quite as skilled at the submission game but I like how he'll throw an elbow or two, or just grab a leg and start bending. Nothing pretty but it all looks painful. Yamazaki's strategy is to try and tap Nakano with a leglock and he goes for it a number of times, supplementing the holds with kicks. But Nakano just wants to bash Yamazaki's skull in with the headbutts. At one point, he takes Yamazaki down with a dragon screw legwhip but doesn't really know how to follow up, other than trying to get back to that front mount to dish out more blunt force trauma. Yamazaki's able to suplex him off or catch him with a hard knee in response to a headbutt but Nakano's relentless at times, climbing onto his back with guillotine choke or German suplexing him onto his head. Nakano's such a squat little prick, it's fantastic -- he'll snap Yamazaki over with a suplex and immediately slap him in the face. Yamazaki's finally able to land some stiff kicks to the head and leg, wearing Nakano down enough to seize hold of the leg and really crank in the submission. Nakano hollers like an animal caught in a snare and taps out. Awesomely brutal match.

Minoru Suzuki vs. Tatsuo Nakano (UWF, 2/27/90)

What a smutty little match-up here with plenty of handsy exchanges and agitated strikes. This has that drunken bar fight element to it, ugly at times but also effective. Nakano wrestles a very smothering style by rubbing his forearms in Suzuki's face and really cranking on the headlocks and necklocks. Suzuki at one point has had it and pummels Nakano with headbutts. The first down is terrific, as Suzuki's trying to block Nakano's headbutts on the ground but Nakano catches him and sends him reeling. Suzuki's leg crabs looked really brutal here and when Suzuki starts dropping knees, Nakano freaks and unloads a pissy flurry of strikes to knock Suzuki back down. For this style of match, While Suzuki sometimes appears a little lost, his selling is really pretty good, in that bewildered sense. He spikes Nakano with the piledriver and immediately starts stomping his head in and dropping more knees. Wasn't a fan of the double KO finish, at least the execution of it, but this was really good and uncomfortable at the same time.

Masakatsu Funaki vs. Tatsuo Nakano (UWF, 7/24/89)

Holy shit, this ruled and when it comes to hate in wrestling, this is a prime, heated example. Funaki, sporting quite the Jheri curl, tries to be cordial with a handshake but Nakano ain't having it and away we go. The crowd's nuts for these two beating the shit out of each other. Funaki keeps trying to land knees and Nakano is going after the leg and whenever he gets him on the ground, Funaki smacks him repeatedly until he lets go. When Nakano catches a foot and tries for the dragon screw legwhip, Funaki blocks it and busts him open with a hard slap. Yikes. Funaki's downright nasty in this match with his little punt kicks and shoot headbutts. At one point, Nakano's draining blood and they have to halt the match to check on him but he's a fighter and by gawd, he's gonna fight.

He gets some revenge on Funaki with his own slaps and punt kicks -- Funaki's selling off one of the kicks is amazing. Nakano delivers a beautiful half hatch suplex into the double wristlock but when he goes after the leg again with a takedown attempt, he pays for it with more stomps to the head. Funaki hits a funky armtrap side German suplex (no idea, if somebody knows what this is called, please @ me). After Nakano breaks a single leg crab, they almost call the match because of Nakano's bleeding but no way, Jose, Nakano's still in it and he knocks down Funaki with a pair of big boy kicks. He spikes Funaki with a snap suplex and Funaki comes at him with a maelstrom of strikes, but Nakano keeps knocking him down. He hits a German suplex and goes into a single leg crab of his own but Funaki escapes. In the end, Funaki slams him down Alabama-style and puts on a badass crab hold to submit Nakano. If you like pissy violence and Funaki being a bad motherfucker, watch this match.