Shotaro Ashino vs. Manabu Soya (W1, 3/14/18)

Now, I'm not a big fan of Wrestle-1, which is to say, I don't go out of my way to watch it: however, the reign of Shotaro Ashino has been an interesting thread to follow. Ashino is a guy who looks like a million bucks but he often came off as cosplaying a "technical wrestler" and lacked the edge that fit his throwback aesthetic. While I enjoyed his match against Manabu Soya from last year, his performance didn't quite connect with me on the level I was expecting. That being said, his rematch with Soya from last month checked most of my pro-wrestling boxes. Here, Ashino played the self-assured badass champ, and Soya the loveable Manabu Nakanishi underdog. They opened in standard fashion with Soya showing off his strength and Ashino his technique. But the match really shifted into gear with Ashino's aggressive armwork, trying to neutralize Soya's lariat while still teasing his signature ankle lock, which he's used to win all of his previous matches. Soya's selling was really good, even when mounting a comeback on offense, throwing Ashino with a big German suplex. He blasts Ashino with a gnarly headbutt but when he thinks he can finish him off with the lariat, Ashino bitchslaps the attempt away in an awesome moment and drops Soya with his own WWE German.

Ashino works the ankle lock for awhile, which results in him maneuvering the mat in order to maintain control, but the next turning point in the match was Soya's awesome superplex, which felt like the biggest move of the match (and was sold brilliantly by Ashino), despite Soya later hitting Ashino with a Death Valley Bomb and package piledriver. He's able to deliver a lariat to the back of Ashino's head but when he tries again to finish him off, Ashino catches him in a Fujiwara armbar, working that a bit, before he proceeds to remove the tape and destroy the arm with a fall-a-way armbreaker. Then he smartly traps the arm and re-applies the ankle hold. Soya's able to powerbomb his way out of an arm triangle and when Ashino catches the arm again, Soya tries to lariat him with the opposite arm. Ashino's able to duck it but Soya knees him in the gut and short-arm lariats him down for a convincing nearfall, finally turning him inside out with that brutal lariat for the win. Despite having his arm worked on through much of the match, Soya was determined to finish Ashino off with that lariat but he had to really fight for it, and you got that sense of pain and struggle from his performance. Probably my favorite match from W1 from recent memory and easily Ashino's best overall performance.

Katsuyori Shibata vs. Jun Akiyama (WRESTLE-1, 8/4/05)

This is Shibata post-NJPW, bottled full of spitfire and ready to make someone bleed. That someone just happens to be daddy Akiyama and when he bleeds...well, he ain't too happy about it. Holy shit this match. I first watched this nearly 10 years ago in college but re-watching it today has only reaffirmed my love for these two bad dudes. Non-stop savagery. The one downside to this match is the shitty camerawork and poorly-timed cutaways.  Shibata is brutal right out of the gate, rushing Akiyama with a dropkick before backdropping him on his pre-bald head. He gives him a little love tap kick to the face before busting him wide open with a follow-up shotgun blast of a kick (see photo above). Shibata only pisses him off and Akiyama starts throwing elbows and knees and chairs on the outside. Back inside, the two slap it out but when Akiyama sneaks in a backdrop, Shibata smartly holds on and turns it into a sleeper upon impact. What a visual of the blood draining from Akiyama's face in this moment. The sleeper wears him down and Shibata drills him with the PK. But he doesn't want to pin Jun,  he just wants him back on his feet so he can continue dishing out the pain. Love that fight. 

Shibata with a big running knee to Akiyama's gut while he's using the ropes for support. The referee does everything he can to prevent Shibata from going after Akiyama on the outside but Shibata's not having it. He misses a kick and connects with the ringpost, allowing Akiyama to take advantage and backdrop Shibata on the commentary table. Takayama is sitting there like "what the fuck, you guys?" Akiyama kills Shibata's knee with repeated chairshots on the guardrail, exposes the cold concrete and proceeds to piledrive him. But he's not quite done and goes back for the chair, laying into Shibata with some shots to the head. Jun welcomes him back to the ring with a running knee, kicking and kneeing him in the face before delivering another backdrop. Shibata kicks out at one so Akiyama cinches in the front necklock. Such great psychology from Akiyama throughout.

I love the desperation in the strike exchanges, with Akiyama throwing himself at Shibata. I love Shibata teasing the Exploder and in turn, planting Akiyama with the STO into a neck crank. When he tries for the sleeper, Akiyama's in the ropes so he tries for a full nelson suplex but Akiyama struggles...so he settles for a quick German suplex instead. The toukon no sold rush of back-and-forth offense was inserted perfectly into this and yeah, Shibata is blowing off most of Akiyama's neck work but he works in such an adrenaline-frenzied way that it takes a couple of head-drop Exploders to really faze him. Good counterwork from Akiyama as he catches a kick, elbows the knee and hits another Exploder before going right into the facelock. A pair of knees gets a one count and Akiyama lays into Shibata with some vicious slaps. He hits a sheer-drop Exploder and a running knee, finally putting Shibata to bed with am awesome Exploder '98 for the win. Comfortably in my top 3 Shibata matches of all time, just balls to the wall from bell to bell. Probably WRESTLE-1's greatest match to date.