Genichiro Tenryu vs. Kensuke Sasaki (NJPW, 1/4/00)

Can’t beat watching these two big boys lobbing knuckles at each other. When Tenryu tries backing Sasaki into a corner, Sasaki straight up pops him with a couple of shots, knocking him on his ass. The referee’s like “what the fuck did you do, Kens-kay?” and Tenryu tries firing back with his old man jabs but Sasaki pops him again. He stays on him with punches in the ropes, throwing in a couple of chops, but Tenryu finally jabs and chops Kensuke down before collapsing himself. Tenryu puts him back in the corner and goes to town on his chest with more chops before it’s bombs away -- a spider German suplex, a powerbomb, a snap brainbuster. Tenryu even tries to get fancy with a frankensteiner but Sasaki slams him down and delivers a frankensteiner of his own. When they’re throwing bombs, they’re smacking each other around in these ugly bar fight exchanges but Kensuke proves in the end that his bombs are a little bit bigger, as he drops Tenryu with not one but two Northern Lights Bombs to win the title.

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

Going back to one of my favorite scrappy shitkickers in Masahito Kakihara – who faked like he was going to just grapple with Tamura before he unleashes his traditional little 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 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. A cool little match-up.

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.

Daisuke Sasaki vs. Shiori Asahi (K-DOJO, 10/15/17)

Simple but smart junior heavyweight wrestling is the best junior heavyweight wrestling, in my opinion, and Daisuke Sasaki is one of the unheralded wizards of the style. This isn't a match that is going to blow many away and that's okay, that's not what they were setting out to do. But it had a little bit of everything, including a great counter-based approach, a couple of high risk spots, and a little comedy with the ropes shenanigans, Asahi's cobra strike, and the ref bumps. Shiori Asahi has a lot of the right tools, especially in his counterwork, but he tends to try to do too much in his matches. He was more grounded here (sometimes not by choice) but he's got a lot of neat touches to his style, like his simple counter to a side headlock. Sasaki goes after the neck early on to set-up for his crossface hold, and like Asahi, he's wrestling more of a grounded approach, though he does pull out his great diving elbow drop to the outside. I thought the octopus hold merry-go-round was fun, and I loved Asahi's answer to the backslide struggle by slipping through the legs into a swanky pin attempt. He's able to slip out of the crossface holds a few times but when Sasaki finally catches him, he uses the crossover version and Asahi quickly taps. An easy, breezy watch well worth your time.

Fuminori Abe vs. TORU (GUTS World, 6/20/17)

GUTS World, where have you been all my year? With the demise of NicoPro's paid-subscription YT channel, the wacky world of GUTS and HEAT-UP return to the wellspring of puro for my viewing pleasures. Now Fuminori Abe is a young guy I like a lot when he pops up in AJPW and BJW. He's technically Sportiva-affiliated but GUTS World seems to be his wrestling home-away-from-home. Back in June, he faced another impressive young guy I'm less familiar with in TORU (not to be confused with TARU). This was quite the little exhibition match-up between these two, and an easy watch/recommendation. Abe is a very emotive performer, in his movements and expressions, which can become rather annoying (see Kenny Omega/Will Ospreay) but Abe works in that Munenori Sawa/Keiji Mutoh vein, which is good by me.

The match itself tells a simple story of basic limbwork and movez but the execution of it all is what makes it worthwhile. For starters, Abe tries to do this big running attack on TORU outside of the ring and TORU overhead suplexes him onto the floor to set-up his subsequent backwork. He delivers a gnarly looking backbreaker, sold well by Abe, before landing a double stomp and locking in a Scorpion Deathlock. Abe chooses to focus on the arm, keeping it locked up through TORU's escape attempts and breaking it down with good stiff kicks. When he tries for his wind-up punch, TORU clocks him with a big elbow but Abe is able to rally back with some more big kicks, knocking him flat with a high kick and following up with a PK. Abe's selling off the German suplex is terrific, which leads to TORU hitting a Shining Wizard and a dragon suplex hold for a nearall. After catching Abe with a brutal flip-over knee strike to the back of the head, he's able to put him away with a brainbuster. Fun stuff.

Jushin Liger vs. Owen Hart (NJPW, 4/28/91)

Having not seen a lot of Owen Hart in Japan, he comes off as a good fit and a natural heel, shooting off a slap early on. After some of that early 1990's junior chain rasslin', Liger teases some matwork before Owen takes over on offense. I guess I never realized Owen was such a suplex machine, but he busts out plenty of pretty ones here, including a gutwrench, a German, a belly-to-belly, and a double arm. After Liger no sells a tombstone piledriver, he hits a superplex and the Liger Bomb for three. A cool exhibition and showcase for Owen, who took most of this match, aside from a last minute win by Liger. I'd love to see more of Owen Hart in Japan.

Yuji Nagata vs. Kazunari Murakami (NJPW, 1/4/06)

This didn't quite hit the same highs as their 2002 match, but it was still fun for the most part, especially in the back half. It's kind of a mess to start as they scramble around until Nagata's able to fire off an Exploder after dodging a penalty kick. Nagata's kicks and knees look good, and he's able to bust Murakami's mouth with a knee on the outside...but on the flip, some of his strikes look weak as hell. Of course, it wouldn't be a Murakami match without blood and the image of it dripping out of his mouth is rather frightening. Nagata unloads on him in the final few minutes, hitting a brainbuster and a head kick. Murakami's gassed at this point, desperately swinging for the fences and missing, which allows Nagata to hit a nasty backdrop, followed by the backdrop hold for the pinfall.