[1996-01-24-RINGS] Akira Maeda vs Yoshihisa Yamamoto

[GOTNW]

It's always weird watching japanese wrestling where the wrestlers actually over after getting used to mild clapping.This match ruled. Yamamoto goes after Maeda attacking him with palm strikes and takedowns and as a result we see a more defensive Maeda. Maeda opts to attack Yamamoto with Leglocks and wears his leg down throughout the match which Yamamoto sells perfectly by slowing down in the final minutes more and more after every leglock Maeda catches him in. One of my favourite moments in the match was Yamamoto getting overzealous once he realised he was a real threat to him and earning a yellow card for slapping him on the ground or after Maeda went down I couldn't really tell which one it was. ****

[superkix]

Yeah, it seems like Yamamoto got the yellow card when he went for a kick/knee to the grounded Maeda. Nowhere near the level of the 12/16/94 match but still a lot of fun, with Yamamoto being the aggressor and Maeda going after the leg with less and less energy as the match progresses. Likewise, Yamamoto's able to keep escaping the holds but by the end of it, he's shot and Maeda just has to hold on long enough for the submission. Some nasty hands from Yamamoto to down Maeda but he couldn't quite finish him off on the mat. Good stuff. 

[Control21]

I think this is almost as good as their 12/16/94 match, and I enjoyed some of the exchanges in this match. Tons of heat from the crowd as well. The post-match where Yamamoto is handed the Mega Battle victory crown by Akira Maeda is really interesting as well. Yamamoto clearly felt he didn't deserve it and kinda put it on reluctantly. A bit of foreshadowing there, unfortunately.  But overall, this is probably one of my favorite RINGS matches. ****1/2