[1988-08-13-UWF] Nobuhiko Takada vs Kazuo Yamazaki

[superkix]

Yamazaki rules in this match. He's such an awesome fiery underdog and of the shoot-style bunch, he's one of the better sellers, especially here. The way he screams and scrambles on the armbar, or rolling out of the ring after the leglock. The crowd was brewing throughout, heating up early on when Takada reaches in during a lock up and smacks Yamazaki. Takada zeroes in on Yamazaki's leg with some snug kicks and working in the single leg crab hold. When Yamazaki comes at Takada with knees, Takada drops him with a hard right. Takada was Takada here, wrestling like he's got something to prove, but Yamazaki hung on, surviving the belly-to-belly and dragon suplexes. He's able to connect with a high kick but after all that punishment, he collapses in exhaustion. I loved the German spot, with Takada struggling to break out of the rear waistlock and Yamazaki headbutting him to deliver the German siplex hold for two. A couple of high kicks later, the underdog Yamazaki picks up the victory and the supportive crowd is stoked. Tons of fun.

[Makai Club #1]

This was awesome. Yamazaki was very game for all the strike exchanges. He put so much fire and energy in his offence that it was easy to rally behind him as the underdog. Takada was calm and cool as usual, zeroing in on Yamazaki’s leg, kicking the absolute shit out of the thigh before shooting in for various submission holds. Yamazaki’s selling is excellent as well. His audible screams are perfect for the setting and he made a big effort to escape the holds, further putting the danger of them over. Yamazaki even sells well when he makes his big comeback to win the match by selling his exhaustion and pain after hitting his moves. The struggle for the German suplex was just superb with Yamazaki headbutting Takada in the back of the head while he was fighting to break the grip before launching him. And the final headkick before the pin was just sick. Awesome win for Yamazaki. ****