Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Super Tiger (UWF, 9/11/85)

Hey, it's Super Tiger sans mask. The match is reminiscent of their first singles encounter, the emphasis placed on the “pro-wrestling” style rather than the hostility these two displayed throughout their “shoot" style encounters. Regardless, Fujiwara’s no joke here, being much better prepared for Tiger’s kicks and taking him to the ropes quite often. When Tiger’s able to let loose on him, he rocks Fujiwara with his wild kicks and knees, at one point catching him in the front teeth with a spin kick. One of the more disturbing visuals in this series comes when Fujiwara tries to choke Tiger out, cranking his head and neck in an unnaturally acute angle, the guttural hacks of Tiger adding to the realism. When Tiger attempts to finish Fujiwara off with the German suplex hold, Fujiwara’s able to take him down with his own signature armbar, the wakigatame, for the submission.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Super Tiger (UWF, 7/17/85)

This match is the culmination of the entire rivalry and embraces the viciousness of shoot-style through Tiger’s strikes and Fujiwara’s grappling. Fujiwara puts Tiger through the ringer on the mat, making him work for his rope breaks and at times, refusing to let him out of his grasp. He’s spry and self-assured, bouncing around the ring and looking maybe five years younger here. But once again, he’s starkly reminded of his own kryptonite when Tiger mule kicks him off and punts him in the ribs. As Tiger’s aggression becomes more and more intense down the stretch, Fujiwara’s resolve wavers and ultimately, he’s conquered by Tiger’s kicks – the viewer left with a lasting image of Fujiwara as Tiger’s foot slips through his desperate fingers and he crumbles in complete exhaustion. Awesome match and my second favorite of the series. It's a shame this does not exist in full...or does it?

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Super Tiger (UWF, 12/5/84)

By now, Super Tiger is familiar with Fujiawa and knows he can’t take him on the ground so he doesn’t hold back with the kicks early on. Really terrific footwork from Tiger complimented by Fujiwara’s selling. Similar to their September match, Fujiwara is looking for that German suplex but Tiger’s able to take him down with a beautiful armbar takedown into the kimura. As brutal as Tiger’s kicks and knees are, Fujiwara’s striking is just as awesome, especially when he’s unloading on Tiger in the corner with relentless body blows. He locks in a grounded choke sleeper and Tiger’s hacking and gagging adds an organic component to the match. When Fujiwara tries for his signature armbar, Tiger freaks out and hustles to the ropes. Fujiwara continues focusing on the arm, forcing Tiger to exert his own energy to find a rope break and each break pisses Fujiwara off more and more, as he stomps and kicks at Tiger. Suplexes are thrown but the final minutes are the real meat-and-potatoes of the match, as Tiger is unremitting with his kicks. He stuns Fujiwara with the solebutt and when he lands that high kick to Fujiwara’s head, the crowd explodes. His kneedrops to the back of Fujiwara’s head are incredible and while Fujiwara is still fighting, trying to keep Tiger at bay, he’s beaten and exhausted and he seemingly sacrifices himself to hit that big headbutt. Tiger sinks his teeth in with those kicks and won’t let up, kicking and kicking until Fujiwara can’t fight back any longer. Terrific match, and very likely my favorite of the series.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Super Tiger (UWF, 9/7/84)

The first match in their series. They're obviously still developing the "UWF shoot-style" as this felt mostly pro-wrestling but it's still a great match. Fujiwara sticks like a magnet to Tiger’s arm through the first half of the match, countering Tiger’s offense or executing his own piece of offense before promptly going back to the arm. Tiger realizes he’s not going to be able to take Fujiwara on the mat so he switches to shoot kicks but Fujiwara catches a foot and takes him down with the dragon screw legwhip, immediately going back to the arm. There’s some dirty slaps, nasty high kicks to the heads, and some great piledrivers from Fujiwara, including a counter to the triangle and a Gotch-style variation. Tiger gets a chain of offense, which includes kicks and a jumping tombstone but he can’t follow-up with the dive, allowing Fujiwara to take over again on offense. Fujiwara abandons the armwork in favor of attacking Tiger’s legs to weaken the kicks. Throughout the match, he keeps trying for the German suplex as a finish but Tiger is able to evade it up through the end of the match, ultimately submitting Fujiwara with the crossface chickenwing.

UWF Atlantis (10/25/90)

This show was an absolute blast and recommended to those who may be turned off by the art of fake fighting that is "shoot style". You've got four of the biggest shoot personalities going toe-to-toe, and an early look into the spastic underdog that is Masahito Kakihara. So in the words of Dr. Stephen Brule, PhD, let's check it out.

Masahito Kakihara vs. Takaku Fuke

Young Kakihara is already showing signs of what's to come with the immediate slap after the handshake. Kakihara's lightning-quick with his kicks and slaps and Fuke does all he can to try and slow the whirlwind down, at one point catching a leg and countering with a cool capture-style powerslam. Once Fuke's got him on the ground, he's able to send Kaki crawling to the ropes by targeting the legs, supplementing the holds with an occasional kick or knee to the face. He's able to catch him in a guillotine choke, smartly trapping the legs to prevent the break. There's plenty of takedowns and scrambling around the mat throughout, with Kakihara finally securing a head-and-shoulder-lock for the submission win.

Masakatsu Funaki vs. Akira Maeda

Loved the flurried slap-action to open and the frantic way Funaki counters out of the rear waistlock to ground Big Boss Maeda with the wakigatame, really cranking it on like he's fixing a leaky pipe. They convey good struggle for control and for the most part, Funaki's able to roll with a lot of Maeda's punches so to speak...you know, except for when Maeda is repeatedly rocking him kicks on the ropes. But I like that even when they're on the mat, Funaki is still trying to drive home a few knees and boots. Maeda's able to execute a beautiful German suplex hold but it doesn't do much to slow down Funaki, who comes at him with some good hard smacks, busting Maeda's nose. He slows him down with some focused legwork and plants him with a nasty capture suplex but still, Funaki keeps coming until eventually Maeda has to choke him out. Really great match.

Nobuhiko Takada vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara

Aside from his sometimes heavy striking, Takada doesn't do a whole lot for me, especially on the mat, but when he's paired against Fujiwara, I find myself more invested in him as a performer. He sells Fujiwara's awesome lunging headbutts like a million bucks and what I love about the headbutts is that can come from out nowhere and quickly turn the tide of the match. Fujiwara's methodical here in that he'll try to manipulate a limb into a hold but when there's struggle, he'll shift to another body part entirely. He's a real danger on the mat, and Takada recognizes that -- at one point, Fujiwara's able to reverse a leglock and Takada freaks out with boot shots in an attempt to escape. Of course, we get the classic grinning Fujiwara here, brushing off Takada's kicks and hanging out in the corners. Takada tries chopping out Fujiwara's leg and then starts trying to knock him with with kicks and knees but Fujiwara uses the corner as a home base to keep from falling. But when Takada's corner strikes get to be too much, Fujiwara slumps to the canvas in a fantastic moment, still managing a smile when he makes it back to his feet. Fujiwara's able to knock Takada down with another headbutt but ultimately, the old dog runs out of downs and Takada's finally able to get the TKO victory after a knee strike. Another terrific match.

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. Akira Maeda (UWF, 6/21/90)

Fuck yeah, this has all the urgency and sense of struggle and survival of a high-stakes match-up, and Takada actually looked like a legitimate badass here, working smart to avoid Maeda's capture suplex. Right out of the gate, he fires off some slaps, blocking Maeda's retaliatory kicks and grabbing hold of a stray, turning it into an ankle hold, and then grapevine-ing the hold to force Maeda to the ropes. When they're on the mat looking for something worthwhile, Maeda's maneuvers himself into a front mount and unloads on Takada with slaps of his own. Maeda misses a spin kick and Takada's able to capitalize with a heel hook, using his foot to press Maeda's head back to prevent him from breaking the hold.

As I mentioned earlier, I like how Takada sits back when Maeda snags the leg for the capture suplex. He snaps on Maeda with some piss-quick slaps, catching him in the eyeball, then uses a waterwheel drop to set-up the single-leg crab.  Loved the closing stretch of this match, hot damn! Maeda shoves off the side headlock takedown, kicking Takada in the head and then using his foot to break Takada’s arm away in order to lock in the cross armbar...but Takada’s too close to the ropes! Takada catches another kick with an ankle hold, ducks the spin kick and again lays down to avoid the capture suplex, but Maeda's like "fuck you" and applies the kneebar to submit Takada. Awesome.

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.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Kazuo Yamazaki (UWF, 4/15/90)

This ruled. You had Kazuo Yamazaki throwing strikes where he can, with the wily Yoshiaki Fujiwara weathering the storm to snag a limb and bend. He keeps turning the tables on Yamazaki, escaping his holds or countering with a hold of his own to force Yamazaki to the ropes. There are plenty of swank takedowns from both men but the patience and experience of Fujiwara proves to be an advantage over the more aggressive Yamazaki. At one point, Yamazaki is just kneeing the fuck out of Fujiwara's head to try and shake him off the arm but it's Fujiwara, dude, he headbutts for a living. Yamazaki's finally able to grab something, a single leg crab, but Fujiwara breaks the hold and is seemingly pissed off about it, unloading on Yamazaki in the corner with a flurry of old man strikes. He staggers Yamazaki with a slap but Yamazaki's able to deliver a German suplex, failing to bridge the hold as he's dog-tired. Fujiwara sells the suplex and when he's back on his feet, Yamazaki high kicks him in the head to lay him out for the KO. Yamazaki's post-match celebration is the buttercream icing on the cake.

Nobuhiko Takada vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (UWF, 2/27/90)

Nobuhiko Takada isn't the most exhilarating mat technician; his bread-and-butter is striking. He'd heat up the crowd with some of his kicks but then immediately cool them off by applying a very pedestrian leglock. Thankfully, Yoshiaki Fujiwara makes up for that, grabbing an armbar when and where he can and avoiding a lot of Takada's wild swings.  He's pretty great here as the wily veteran, hip-hopping Takada into a corner and blasting him with a headbutt, which serves as the real turning point in this match. Takada starts letting loose with the kicks, there are a couple of suplex throws from both sides, and the finish was pretty great, as Takada goes for one of his lame ass leglocks and Fujiwara counters with the cross kneebar and really cranks it in, sending Takada reeling, scrambling for the ropes and trying to peel Fujiwara off before finally tapping out. Fujiwara's post-match old man celebration is about as good as the match itself.

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.

Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki (UWF, 2/9/90)

This match picks up toward the middle after some failed shoot ins and feigned kicks during the early portions of the match. Takada uses some neat, almost impromptu suplex throws to counter Yamazaki's lock up attempts and Yamazaki uses a swank leg takedown but can't get the hold cinched in before Takada escapes. But the striking is the bread and butter of this match. Yamazaki starts rocking Takada with kicks against the ropes but all it takes is one high kick to the grill to down Yamazaki. They trade strikes, pick up a couple downs, before Yamazaki targets the leg with kicks and leglocks. There's some good selling from Takada here and he's able to catch a foot, headbutt Yamazaki, and blast him with another boot to the face. In the end, Takada staggers Yamazaki with a few slaps and a single leg takedown, working in a single leg crab and then transitioning into the full crab, cranking back to submit Yamazaki. Real good second half.

Bob Backlund vs. Masakatsu Funaki (UWF, 5/21/89)

Bob Backlund in Japan, in UWF specifically, is a riot. He’s such a goober -- such a pro-wrestling caricature as if Elmer Fudd was a former NCAA Champion. The way he sells Funaki’s kicks, whoa-ing and scuttling around. When Funaki cranks on the kneelock, Backlund casually bends Funaki’s leg and reverses the hold into a reverse Indian deathlock. He’ll fling Funaki off with this “gee, what’d I get myself into here?” expression on his face, only for Funaki to continue pelting him with kicks.  His takedowns are erratic and somewhat impulsive, the strike exchanges are chaotic between wild misses or hard wallops. No-nonsense Funaki is especially vicious with his feet, stomping his way out of holds and high kicking Backlund in the head. After Funaki grounds Backlund with an armbar takedown, Bob leg muscles up through the hold and sets Funaki on the top rope, seemingly pissing him off. Funaki then gets himself disqualified with a top rope dropkick, of course. What a show.

Akira Maeda vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (UWF, 8/13/89)

You've got the old guard of UWF dueling in a game of shoot-style chess. Fujiwara shows early on what happens when you back a grizzled dog into a corner, blasting Maeda's grill with some hard headbutts. When Maeda tries to sweep Fujiwara's leg, Yoshiaki smartly holds onto the ropes to maintain his balance. Maeda's strategy is straightforward: get Fujiwara into a corner and strike him down. As the match continues, you can really see the frustration mounting in Fujiwara, the way he slaps the canvas when he's forced to the ropes or the tired look on his face as he sits in the corner, biding his nine count. After Maeda dumps Fujiwara on his head with a backdrop suplex, he tries to grab the dazed Fujiwara in crossface chickenwing but he can't cinch it in. In a neat little counter, Fujiwara wrenches Maeda's ankle while he's in the bodyscissors and Maeda starts grasping for the ropes, the crowd buzzing. Fujiwara lays into Maeda with some bodyshots against the ropes but he's exhausted, collapsing into Maeda with headbutts as Maeda tumbles out of the ring. With the tank empty, Fujiwara keeps falling to Maeda's kicks in the corner and the referee calls the match, awarding Maeda the TKO victory. Fujiwara's performance in this match was fantastic and he really had my sympathy there at the end.

Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Shigeo Miyato (UWF, 8/13/89), vs. Akira Maeda (UWF, 10/25/89)

Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Shigeo Miyato (UWF, 8/13/89)

Ahh, a fresh-faced Kiyoshi Tamura, ready to rock the shoot-style world...almost. He needs to get rocked a few times first. Miyato played the aggressor here and kept on him with kicks and groundwork, forcing Tamura back to the ropes. He dumps Tamura on his head with a backdrop suplex and Tamura's selling hard but the fight's still in him. Miyato keeps shutting him down with strikes, hitting solebutt, a high kick and hard knees to keep him down for the TKO win.

Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Akira Maeda (UWF, 10/25/89)

This was a little over two minutes and it ruled. Tamura isn't kidding around this time and barrages Maeda with open-hands in the corner. Maeda's able to trip him up and goes after the leg but Tamura is quick to the ropes. Then Maeda decides playtime is over and starts destroying Tamura's face with some Muay Thai knees. He nonchalantly blocks Tamura's desperation dropkick and continues kneeing him until the referee calls the match. Oh well...better luck next year.

Nobuhiko Takada vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (UWF, 10/25/89)

What a swanky little contest that really made the rope break/downs system engaging. The sense of struggle between this two was terrific as they vied for submission opening and fought for takedowns, sometimes in desperation. Once again, Fujiwara's bony old man head is a major factor in this match and early on, he lunges in with a nasty headbutt and Takada collapses to the canvas, even with Fujiwara holding onto him. Takada's kicks are his weapons of choice and he keeps chopping out the legs of Fujiwara to keep him down. At one point, Fujiwara executes a fantastic kneebar takedown but Takada is able to slip out into a single leg crab hold to force him to the ropes. Fujiwara's selling post-single leg crab is fantastic. Takada is again able to take him out at the leg and Fujiwara fires up with some big slaps and the two unload on each other in the corner. Fujiwara cranks on a crossface to force Takada to the ropes but Takada again comes back with the kicks and the two start racking up the downs between the kicks, the headbutts, the slaps and the punches. Fujiwara manages on last exhausted headbutt to even the score but in the end, Takada takes him out in beautifully dominant fashion, rocking him with hard sweeps and sweeping the leg to score the TKO victory. Loved this.

Masakatsu Funaki vs. Yoji Anjoh (UWF, 6/14/89)

This wasn't quite the jam Funaki's bout with Nakano was but this was decent, with plenty of wild and loose strikes from both sides. There was some slop to this match but Funaki had some cool takedowns, including a nasty reverse cravate and the double arm suplex into the butterfly lock. The most compelling stuff came during Anjoh's legwork, which was sold well by Funaki and had Anjoh circling with kicks like a shark in bloody waters. Funaki gets a little revenge with some big spinning back kicks but when he tries to finish Anjoh off with a German suplex, Anjoh snags an arm and takes him down with the double wristlock for the submission win. Not bad but the most engaging match.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Kazuo Yamazaki (UWF, 7/24/89)

This was more of a methodically-paced defensive contest, with both guys wary of strikes, backing into corners and trying to wear each other out on the canvas. It may not be as "exciting" as other UWF bouts but it's worked smartly. The don Fujiwara lets Yamazaki know just how hard his forehead is early on as he lunges in with a headbutt during a lock up. Yamazaki's able to avoid some of Fujiwara's signature offense but he can't manage any traction either. They try to chop each other down with kicks but in a nice move, Yamazaki holds onto Fujiwara's legs to prevent the down. Yamazaki misses a lot of his big kicks and at times, it appeared as though he was holding back. But Fujiwara, as always, is an absolute joy to watch in the ring.

When he's got Yamazaki in a leglock, he holds on through Kazuo's kicking. When he catches a foot against the ropes, he hangs on and turns it into a fisherman suplex, not letting go upon impact. When Yamazaki tries for a sleeper hold, Fujiwara snatches a foot and twists, then grabs the other and does the same thing. He dodges a solebutt attempt and curtsies. A lot of the knock downs come from body shots in the corner or against the ropes and there's quite a bit of back-and-forth legwork. They spice things up in the final few minutes as they trade punches, slaps, kicks, with Fujiwara sandbagging after he eats Yamazaki's knee. Yamazaki's able to deliver the German suplex hold but he can't maintain the bridge as he's wore the fuck out. He signs his own death certificate when he headbutts Fujiwara because...well, Fujiwara is going to headbutt you right back and after he conks him with one, he picks up the TKO victory. A differently worked/paced match but still a pleasure, thanks to Fujiwara's appeal.

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.