Yoshihisa Yamamoto

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[soup23]

vs. Tamura 9/21/98

 

Fantastic match up there with the best RINGS ones. Yammamota is pretty underrated as he has built up quite a bit of excellent matches the past two years. Speaking of, Tamura and Kobashi seem to be in a neck and neck race for WOTY at this point. This featured some great matwork that just moves and transitions flawlessly. However, from that outstanding technical spot, we advance to a more dramatic tone featuring strikes that was complete engaging. I loved the palm strike Yammamota gave and he really milked his standing 9 counts for all they were worth. In fact, they blew their saves a lot more in this match than others which is a nice change from the "saving" strategy utilized in Kohsaka vs. Tamura. I love RINGS so much. (****1/2)

 

vs. Maeda 7/20/98

 

Was this a retirement of sorts for Maeda? The ringing bell at the end was the reason I ask. Anyway, I agree that this didn't have the precision or the brutality of other stuff in shoot style we have seen in 1998 but it did have an awesome story of Maeda having pretty much complete control and then realizing in the tail end that he was out gunned and didn't have much left to give and therefore he runs out the clock. The stirke exchanges in the waning minutes were nice and the ankle lock in the middle of this looked brutal. I love the variety of all the shoot style matches that have stood out in 1998 so far. (****1/4)

 

vs. Kohsaka 4/4/97

 

I was a little familiar with TK but not a ton. Honestly don't think I have ever seen Yamamoto before unless I am blanking on something. This match blew me away. It is not a match for everyone but the matwork and escalation to the flying strikes around the finish were spectacular. I really loved the groundwork and opening 10 minutes of this. It felt like it could end at any moment but just kept going and going which is a good thing. Really looking forward to all the shoot style stuff in the next few years. (****1/2)

[joeg]

Yamamoto was my favorite Volk Han opponent by far. He was just such a great fiery young underdog vs Han.

[Loss]

Yamamoto is a great worker and will make my list for sure. I think he was a better opponent for Tamura than Han was. He's not as physically imposing as Tamura or Kohsaka, and I always wondered if that caused some fans to overlook him. I'd have him below Tamura and Han for sure, but I think it's a real toss-up with Kohsaka. Check out all of the matches recommended above, along with the Tamura match from 6/24/99, which in my opinion is the greatest match of the 1990s.

[joeg]

I haven't seen that match in probably 5 years. Wasn't there another match he had in 99 with TK that was awesome? I remember my favorite match of his being his first match with Han (94ish?, definately before he fought Rickson). It was like he was the Kikuchi or Ricky Morton of RINGS going against Han in that match and with each match against Han or Tamura you could see him progressing, moving up the ladder becoming closer to their level.

[Loss]

Yes he had a match against Kohsaka in May that's a MOTYC too. He sadly started to peak right as RINGS was going to all shoots.

[Microstatistics]

Check out all of the matches recommended above, along with the Tamura match from 6/24/99, which in my opinion is the greatest match of the 1990s.

Worthy pick. That match would probably be in my all time Top 5.

[KB8]

I had Yamamoto at number 91 in 2016 and that feels a bit too low, but in my defence I hadn't yet deep-dived RINGS before the first GWE. At that point as well I think shoot-style was probably only my second or third favourite style of wrestling as opposed to my first (or just, you know, my favourite). Yamamoto was awesome and one of the best shoot-style underdogs ever. Obviously the Tamura fights are the business, but the Han bouts are tremendous as well and it was cool as hell getting to see him start out in 1992 and track his journey towards becoming the Yamamoto we know and love throughout those first few years. A real feather in his cap as a youngster was his ability to get a really exciting contest out of Nobuaki Kakuta, who was all over the first couple years' worth of RINGS shows but despite being crazy over for whatever reason was never actually any good. I actually haven't even seen Yamamoto's '99 fight with Tamura, which is one of those "save it for a special occasion" matches that I don't really know why I have but here we are and these are the choices I've made with my life. 

 

YOSHIHISA YAMAMOTO YOU SHOULD WATCH:

v Nobuaki Kakuta (RINGS, 12/19/92)

v Volk Han (RINGS, 1/24/94)

v Volk Han (RINGS, 12/29/95)

v Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (RINGS, 4/4/97)

v Kiyoshi Tamura (RINGS, 9/21/98)