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This was pretty much a shootstyle brawl with plenty of bitchslaps and stomps. So, exactly what it should be. Man, did Funaki just treat everyone like garbage then? It brings out Anjoh's inner dickhead tough to even things up. The grappling was fine enough and they kept things going for the entire 20+ minutes which ain't easy, but the highlight was clearly them kicking the crap out of eachother. Funaki's time in europe had clearly rubbed off on him as he went for stuff like mid section headbutts or cravate holds which he executes like a WoS wrestler. He sure loved his spin kicks, but the thing I most dug were his short low kicks. Really entertaining match.

"Incredible technical masterclass as expected from these four. Nishimura has made it his mission to bring Joe Malenko back into the promotion that arguably made him and his brother the acts they would become, and Funaki/Suzuki need no introduction. Even Suzuki, a chronic underachiever who phones aplenty was bringing his A-game here. Joe Malenko also looked really sturdy despite his age (45!) and his lack of experience, what with this being his first match back since 2000. Loads of "little things" moments shattered throughout as the four mix in a lovely blend of Catch/shoot-style with occasional splatters of cool pro-style moments like Nishimura/Funaki stiffing the shit out of each other with elbow smashes. There's a great spilt here between the more old-school styles of the first pairing and how that style interacts with the more contemporary proto-MMA shtick that Funaki and co throw out. You have Nishimura getting his ass beat by Funaki's striking advantages, having no real way to defend himself against such a blitz of furious kicks/submissions alongside having to Fujiwara his way out of the beatings by just taking them until a opening crops up. You got Joe Malenko doing all these epic Gotch-transitions and throws while Suzuki's got the knowledge to find ways out of them and into his own signature work and vice versa. The bit where Malenko counters his sleeper with a Cravat is just lovely, something you'd never see even these days. It truly felt like a subtle Dory moment of brilliance ripped right from the 70's to today. Fatigue also played a huge part in how the match was formed as we get tons of struggles over holds. Never felt like it was "easy" or "loose" when it came to simply sticking on stuff, there was always a undercurrent of struggle to everything and the feeling that any sort of advantage could easily be lost if someone managed to get a breakthrough. This also translated into the general structure of the match as Nishimura sold amazingly for a extended beating by Funaki, mostly with his razor sharp kicks to the stomach and chest. Watching him drag himself around to escape Funaki's tricked out leg submissions and almost pathetically having to hurl his whole dangling upper body just for a wiff of the ropes felt rough as anything, making his brief moments of hope where he'd snap on a signature flashy roll-up much more impactful than what they would be if this wasn't a factor. Suzuki's work wasn't as convincing, simply because he just doesn't have any real striking work to make me think much of him: going from Funaki's killer kicks to worked forearms and little stubby knees is most assuredly a downgrade and I'm not going to hear otherwise. Some good fake-outs here and there: the match ending on this never-say-die struggle with Malenko getting a toe-hold out of the RNC and never letting go of it even when Suzuki kept putting more pressure on the choke felt awesome. As a welcome back for Joe Malenko I don't think you could've done much better; he looked pretty solid despite some relative slowness (given his age that's warranted) and it felt like he never left to be honest. Nishimura doesn't have a lot of epic technical moments as this is more of a defensive/sell-heavy instance for him, getting to show off his compelling struggle to keep the team together despite his general disadvantages compared to his opponents. Suzuki is a bit more ehh (especially near the end) but he does put tangibly more effort into this as a whole so I can't complain too much, solid bully. Funaki was amazing; it's such a shame we don't have more of this version of him after AJPW because dude was a beast here. Incredibly nasty strikes and very fancy grappling moments galore, absolutely a highlight of this when he's able to just let loose with capable hands who can translate his relatively blank showmanship into something tangible for the match I.E. Nishimura making it all about him taking the blunt of it and still carrying himself forward despite the pain with as much stoic energy as possible until the very end where he's just screaming a ton. Good stuff, further proof that the Pro-Wres era of AJPW was assuredly much better than people act it out to be.

Not shockingly, this kicked ass for what was trying to do. Funaki dominates at the start with some nifty mat-work. Omori isn't much of a grappler so he has to mostly use his strength to power though but that obviously doesn't work as Funaki pulls guard and wangles his way into stuff: there's a great bit where he goes from being in full guard and somehow manages to use the leverage from hooking Omori's arms to then pull him down and into a cross armbreaker out of what was seemingly a safe position. Omori's best shot is to shove his foot into his face and try to escape, which works if only because Funaki gets pissed and starts throwing hard slaps. Omori hits harder, Funaki is more measured, finding ways to get around the striking with submission counters and whatnot so it's not just mindless striking exchanges for once. We also get to see some pretty out there spots with Funaki actually doing dives to the outside. They tease a apron spot as Funaki throws more kicks and Omori tries to set up his Guillotine Driver for big cheers, Funaki flips over his back and tries for a sunset-powerbomb until they end up both going to the outside and Omori landing his Axe Bomber lariat out of the blue. He follows up with two pretty brutal Dragon Suplexes for a near fall in a good sequence. Funaki eventually recovers, landing some more strikes and a random top rope crossbody for his own. Omori takes over again with even more wacky bombs; despite Funaki's best efforts he's not getting anywhere, with Omori even landing another Axe Bomber. The finish was pretty dynamic and fitting given what the two were working with: Omori tries to set up another Bomber, but Funaki is able to dodge and go for a convincingly sound roundhouse to the head out of the blue which ends the match in a flash KO victory. This was pretty solid, and I actually liked that they showcased Omori as not being the underdog yet again (which let's just face it, a lot of his big mainline matches end up being, poor lad just can't help it) instead being confidently ahead with his range of big bombs and stiff strikes outclassing the less seasoned opponent. Funaki despite pulling out the wacky flips and spots couldn't get the job done, forcing him to instead rely on his shoot-style counters to get him the win. Never got particularly "great" for a Carny showing, still fairly solid for a Omori showing post-NOAH and especially so knowing these two will have a drastically less impressive title match next year.

I was dreading this: Funaki's last few shoot-style matches with Suzuki and Sakuraba haven't been much good, with his Aoki match being a decent but middling performance. Barnett is also a bit of a loose cannon when it comes to his consistency so yeah this was a risky match all things considered. Starting sequences had the classic slow grappling as Barnett got a takedown, but he couldn't really translate it to much as Funaki kept moving his legs around to prevent any proper leverage on toe-hold attempts. I guess it's funny to see the Achilles Tendon being treated as a scary move when it's been pretty much exposed for decades as uncomfortable but not something to tap out over. Barnett tried to escape, but ended up feeding his foot over in the process and had to quickly rope escape. I thought the spot with Barnett hooking the arm in stand-up for a potential legit arm drag and almost getting choked out when Funaki counters was a nifty bit that got the tension going quite early and had a good counter with a kneebar a little bit afterwards. Stand-up was crappy; Barnett's never exactly been great at pulling his strikes and this was especially true here as he threw these really goofy light slaps that typically were a mile away from hitting anything while Funaki kept to landing low kicks that looked quite sloppy at times. It felt more of a formality than anything else to pad for the matwork. They do some more stuff and it's ok, Barnett using his wrestling to get into full mount after some guard passes was cool, him fumbling a cross armbreaker and them having to awkwardly shuffle around as Funaki kept his arms together really wasn't. Was cool seeing the Billy Robertson headscissors counter but it lasted for maybe two seconds before being dropped Barnett stupidly tries to go into a side headlock for maybe a head/arm choke, Funaki catches him in his own headscissors that forces another escape for the lad. Third half of this was really great, however, as the two start just doing dangerous stuff to the other. It starts with Barnett going for a Grovit before trying for a takeover, but Funaki kinda undershoots for it and he ends up almost legit DDT'd on the floor. The two go for a really cheesy double toe-hold as Barnett grabs one before his opponent shuffles over on the mat to copy him. Stand-up time as Barnett gets flustered with shots and tries for a German, only for Funaki to employ a cool Sakuraba-lite double wrist lock from the back before trying for a Fujiwara armbar. Barnett won't go down and lands a pretty great overhand slap to the face for the first knockdown of the match. They do the classic "takedown counter is a knee to the face" bit, only Funaki ends up legit busting his nose in the process. It's cool that he was still able to do the front-face guillotine spot regardless alongside the absolutely awesome finishing bit where Barnett's solution to the submission is just to pick Funaki up and dump his ass with a brainbuster for the KO victory. I think the main issue with this is that it struggles to really pick up any: Funaki even in his prime has always been this super cerebral worker, but that doesn't really translate to quality when it comes to actual engagement with the match as it just looks like he's checked out for the most part. Barnett is a bit more eager to get moving and that, I would say, is how most of this trucks forward quality-wise. Dude is 45 yet can still make grappling look so much more refined and struggle-heavy than many of the so-called greats you'd usually hear about. His selling was mostly solid as well as he realistically paced out the leg-work by Funaki's kicks: he starts off taking them with a slight pause and by the near end he's shuffling around and struggling hard. I'd not say this was exactly amazing for what shoot-style as a whole is able to do, but as a functional throwback it works just fine and even gets quite decent in places, which is a fair shock.

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This post came about by accident but it's been a fun one. KAI is one of my favorite new guys from watching 2010's AJPW. So here we're going to take a look at some of his bigger matches while in W-1. His arc here probably reflects his booking had Muto & his loyal pals not left and formed Wrestle-1. Anyhow all but the last match are readily available on the 'tube. Let's take a look vs Seiya Sanada (09/08/13): I think this might be clipped a few minutes based on the time they give at the end...hmm couldn't see a clip in the match anywhere. Regardless a very good match between the junior heavyweight styled heavyweights. My preference is with KAI who is much more like Misawa in that he backs up his fancier moves with very hard strikes. Sanada & he are similar in that they rely upon their big moves and aren't very adroit at filling the time in between. Kuroda from FMW is like this. They are fantastic complimentary players... excellent tag teamers and if they have a good opponent they can have a quality singles match. Sometimes give the right circumstance, a great or even classic one. As it stands, this is a pretty good 'round 10 minute match (or what's shown) with 2 guys doing their thing. Nothing wrong there vs Masakatsu Funaki (02/15/14): First 3-4 minutes Funaki blisters KAI with stiff as a starched shirt kicks to the legs and chest. Then absolutely blasts his arm and goes for the submission. KAI finds and opening, knocks the Pancrase legend to the floor and annihilates him with a fast as fuck tope! From there it is on like Donkey Kong. They just pound away at each other with hard slaps, elbows and kicks. They mix in the throws as well which all look fantastic. It's an under 10 minute match which plays to Funaki's style. KAI does a great job matching the stiffness and the intensity that the legend brings while still representing pro wrestling style. It reminds me a bit of late 80's NJPW UWF vs NJ...which Funaki was a part of :-) Anyhow Great match! If this were a TV match, you & your friends be super stoked to talk about it the next day at lunch! vs Manabu Soya (05/04/14): Hell yes, more Soya! This is pretty intense stuff. KAI who is clearly coming into his own is able to get the advantage on the muscular caveman. Eventually that caveman has got to eat and locks KAI into a vicious Boston crab...like Boston crab that is folding up KAI. Holy cow! Then things really get good as the two guys start laying into each other. That's Soya's strength as he's kinda W-1's version of Daisuke Sekimoto. KAI as I've mentioned is down to throw some strikes. It's what locks this in as a great 15 minute match. I mean those lariats...man, it's been awhile since I've seen some Kensuke style lariats. But KAI's kicks to the head are no joke either. It is absolutely what I wanted out of a KAI vs Manabu Soya match. vs Yuji Hino (05/22/14): Man! KAI vs another gorilla and you know what? It's another great match! Hino is like Juggernaut or Rhino if you read comics. And that is what makes him a great character wrestler. He's got this full speed ahead unstoppable brute thing going for him. That really makes KAI shine as the babyface because he gets wrecked here. Chest scar opened up, bruised pecs, just looks demolished. He keeps fighting though. Like Soya or maybe even moreso he can't lift this human tank up without a struggle. So his high damage moves are not as easy to pull off. So we get the most unique match so far. That said its mainly macho he-man chops, elbows so if you're not interested then, you might not enjoy it. It's Yuji Hino so you know that going in though right? Under 15 minute match. Masato Tanaka vs KAI (11/01/14): A good kinda by the book 2010's match that really turned up the heat for the last 3-4 minutes. The last 3 minutes are exactly what I wanted for the whole match. The match is only 12ish minutes so it's something that they could have done. Instead we get too many elbow or chop trading segments. This is disappointing considering Tanaka brings much more to the table than Hino for instance. He eventually gets there but I would have much rather see them exchange holds or done a more intense brawling type feeling out opening. If this had a more spirited beginning then settled down into a good middle and finally ramped up the great finish then this would have been a very good match maybe borderline great. The pedestrian start just set a dull tone unfortunately. KAI vs Masato Tanaka (02/13/15): I just happen to have the rematch on DVD so I watched this right afterwards. And Tanaka is a pro, a vet and a great wrestler...he fixed most of what didn't work and made this a very good match. Perhaps a great one at 12 minutes. There's a little bit of a story. They play off the previous match. The strike exchanges have a purpose or a direction and are kept to a minimum. Instead they focus on their spots that worked from the above fight, added a couple new ones and kept the length the same. It's a tuned up version of the November match. Perhaps a little too similar if you've watched them minutes apart like me. But if you've got to watch one, have it be this one! If you're interested then you got to check out a match or two. KAI definitely reminds me of a younger Tanaka in the sense of his big heart, his toughness and his ability to go from 0-60mph in 3 seconds. I know in his matches vs Tanaka were just a few years earlier they would have been **** great bouts. Check that last one might actually be a **** (It was kinda unfair of me to immediately watch the rematch). Anyhow, check out some KAI in W-1! Thanks for reading folks! I appreciate it!

For a match that wraps up in under 10 minutes, there is a lot do it. Funaki is wrestling his fourth match for UWF 2.0 and already has losses to Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Yoji Anjo, plus a DQ loss to Bob Backlund on his record sheet. Nakano came up through the original UWF and while by no means a star, is positioned as both the veteran and fan favorite against Funaki. There is very much an “our guy” versus “this other guy we are unsure about” vibe from the fans throughout. The match has excellent heat form the start. Just that total anticipatory shouting and yelling type of heat. Hakata Star Lane only holds a few thousand fans (and it shows) but man, those fans made a lot of noise. An awesome big fight atmosphere that is made even more remarkable by the fact that these fans just sat through a 30 minute draw between Mark Rush & Minoru Suzuki. You would never know that this match was coming of the heels of a 30 minute draw and was positioned second on a five match card by the crowd reaction. They take advantage of that anticipation by going at it right away and cutting a remarkable pace. This is a brawl in every way possible. They throw hard kicks and slaps in a reckless but still skilled manner. There is almost no separation between the two wrestlers, save for few times the times when one is trying to answer a ten count and a couple of timeouts for the doctor to check on Nakano. The doctor looks at Nakano because he gets a busted up and has his nose bloodied early. The blood adds another dimension to the match and heat, as blood tends to do. Nakano and Funaki had a better pro wrestling brawl by staying in the ring and not using any weapons than most guys who lean on those gimmicks do. The mat work is overall very good. They were able to take the intensity from the standup stuff and transition it the ground, which is not always easily done. There was a real struggle and stiffness to the mat portions of the match, with both guys constantly in motion trying to counter and escape. There are shoot style matches that have higher level submission attempts and escapes, but given the intensity they were wrestling with it didn’t make an ounce of difference. They fell into the somewhat common shoot style trap of getting tied in dual leg locks, but got out of it quickly without losing any of the momentum they had built. In fact, they only gained crowd momentum as the match wore on. As hot as the crowd was at the start, they only got louder in throwing their support behind Nakano. One the blood starting flowing, the crowd threw all their weight behind Nakano by chanting his name and screaming during his comebacks. Nakano lifting his fist towards the crowd after the doctor decides that the match can continue was a great moment and only served to get the crowd even more behind him. Funaki jumped right back on top him after that. Funaki never allowing Nakano to gain much space was a big factor in the match working as well as it did. Nakano’s low-to-the-mat suplexes are great. I loved how he teased one signature snap suplex only for Funaki to half-block it in this really realistic manner. Funaki didn’t just put on the breaks or get on a knee like you would normally see. Rather, it came off like he was holding his weight back as much as he possibly could, but still ended up being driven halfway into the mat on his head. When Nakano pulled off the same suplex cleanly later in the match, it got a big reaction. I could see the argument that they could have used a couple more high level near-submissions for Nakano near the end, but the ones they had felt like more than enough. It would have been difficult for them to draw more heat for a near-victory than what they were already drawing. The finish felt like it came at just the right time, plus Nakano milked it just long enough before giving up that it had time to sink in. It is a cliché, but this was one of those matches where both winner and loser came out looking strong. My first thoughts after watching this was “that’s what some people think Ishii matches are” and “that’s what Ishii matches should be.” I am not picking on Ishii or at least I don’t intend to. But this was a hard hitting, super intense brawl of a match that never let up and got there without burning through a bunch of stuff or going long. I read a lot of people talk up matches from Ishii, Sekimoto and the like because they gravitate towards matches where two guys take a lot of punishment and go down swinging. That is fine, but matches like this are an example of how that can be done without resorting to no-selling, burning through moves, or going long. A match like this is potentially appealing to a far wider offense because it doesn’t do those things, while keeping the positive elements (drama, intensity, the feeling of a throw down brawl) of an Ishii-type bomb fest. Awesome match overall and probably one of my favorite sub-10 minute matches of all time. It is quick, heated, and hits almost all of the right notes. http://www.crossarmbreaker.com/masakatsu-funaki-vs-tatsuo-nakano-uwf-2-0-07241989/#more-3100

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Man, I forget what a great fight this was. Crazy UWF grappler Backlund was so cool to watch. Easily the best stuff he ever did. Basically Backlund irritates Cool Guy Funaki a bunch so Funaki tries to beat him to a pulp, including knife edge chopping him in the face. Supposedly the UWF people didn't like Backlund's pro style spots (altough Funaki starts working more pro stylish himself), and it almost felt like Backlund was being intentionally goofy to piss Funaki off. He even seemed to be smirking for a few moments. The best part is that Funaki can't seem to crack Backlund. I loved how Backlund would take a beating, but seemingly toy around and then fuck Funaki up with a single blow. Also dug how easily he threw Funaki off and reversed his holds. The non-finish is a bummer, but I can't really imagine a proper finish for a match this bizarre.

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Pretty much the UWF equivalent to the later RINGS grappling matches. Funaki in his shoes is hilarious. Really enjoyed the early amateur style work especially the toe holds. Then, after some slick but strugglesome grappling Suzuki goes on a tear against Funaki with tight submission attempts only to be caught by surprise. Little too short and sudden to amount to much but I always enjoy a fun undercard match like this.

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Really cool seven minutes. Funaki was the heir to Inoki and Suzuki is a 2010s Billy Robinson, so you knew you'd get some neat matwork, and while it didn't last very long it most certainly was neat. Funaki is more than a decade Suzuki's senior but you couldn't tell from how he moves. He's still super quick in the scramble, rolling through and grabbing armbars like it was 1996. The last couple minutes were just great. They burst into a frantic race to either score the submission or drop the other with a bug suplex and the slickness with which they were reversing and countering was pretty impressive. Wish it were longer, but you take what you can get.

The first shoot style match of the show! This was something like a RINGS match with a more focused narrative-some nice matwork at the start before Funaki catches Aoki with a HUGE leg kick, after which Aoki's leg becomes a target and Funaki uses it both for direct attacks and feints. Funaki's dominance lasts until he goes for one his more pro-style moves (the Penalty Kick) which Aoki uses for a counter and they end up in a whirlpool of lightning fast hold counters. It really is saying of both man's talents (but especially Funaki's-since he's the one that's done them regularly for many years) that a mostly methodical short match can be this good. ***1/4

New Exciting Wresting presented its first show this month and I couldn't wait to see what it would look like, I'll jump at any opportunity to see any new shoot style or hybrid shoot style. The opening was kinda dull, reminding me off the dull HARD HIt matches I'd give up on halfway through, just them exchanging weak middle kicks and some pointless matwork with no sense of urgency. Once they moved back on standing it got pretty good, as they started laying in shots, with Funaki's head kicks in particular reminding me of the kind of violence I really missed from this style, and the match was short enough that it more than made up for the pedestrian matwork. ***

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I imagine Taichi would be universally loved if he worked 1973 WWWF since all he does is stall and cheat. The opening was fun and Suzuki's willingness to stooge was crucial to it. Mathc lost steam in the middle with the Liger in peril section, attacking the mask might get heat but it's boring and somewhat pointless when it goes for a while as you understand they're pretending to try to take it off instead of actually trying to take it off. Finish was fun with the face team clearing the ring with lots of doulbe/triple team moves and the Funaki-Aoki finish was more dramatic than I'd expected as they set up the nearfalls very well and I bought into them. Aoki's frog splash looked amazing and got a big pop as did Suzuki's apron kneebar. ***

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