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Vol.34 Continued...
Now for a further demonstration of mind-numbingly inane booking, we have a repeat of Tatsuo Nakano vs. Tom Burton. At least Kakihara/Silver is forgivable, as despite its flaws, they were still somewhat entertaining matches thanks to the power of Kakihara. This, on the other hand, was a rematch that absolutely no one was asking for. Thankfully, this was 9 minutes instead of 30, so it was quick enough to not be an issue. This was a typical late-80s UWF style match, which is fine for what it was, but when compared to the modern technology that we’ve been witnessing lately, feels more and more out of place. **
ML: Wow, at this point I'm convinced that Gedo secretly booked this card, doing his best to figure out how a once mighty promotion could start drawing less than 400 fans at Korakuen Hall and get outdrawn at Budokan by Stardom, despite Stardom's illustrious track record of never drawing beyond the Korakuen level (thankfully Miyato didn't lose or devalue all his good workers and just do endless silly entertainment wrestling shenanigans until they reached this point). Nakano actually seemed a little better here, as he decided to give footwork a try, but Burton still just stood around and just wanted to grab him. This match was on par with the previous match, probably a little worse but at the same time less painful because it was so much shorter. There was one truly hilarious spot just before the finish where Burton fell missing an elbow, yet Nakano skill stumbled backwards across the ring and went flying through the ropes.
Now for another singles match featuring newcomer, Mark Fleming, and Yuko Miyato. I’m thankful that we get to see Fleming in another singles match, as when we last witnessed him, he was in a tag alongside Yoji Anjo, whereas this should be a better format to showcase his skills. Miyato has been totally on fire so far this year, so we may be in for a sleeper of a great match. Things start with Miyato going straight for the kill, firing off some heavy palms, and while Fleming is clearly not in his standard element, he does a good job of cutting off Miyato’s offense with a quick clinch, before tossing him away like a frisbee. Miyato shows some strong judo in response, with a nice kata-guruma (fireman’s carry) into a hammerlock.
The rest of the match was a treat, as these two had good chemistry with one another, with Miyato having the edge in speed, striking, and submissions, and Fleming with wrestling and strength. What’s refreshing is unlike other wrestlers similar to Fleming, who would simply get a takedown and smother the opponent for 10 minutes, we saw some nice variety from Mark, who was using his wrestling skill to slow Miyato down, but would also generate plenty of attacks with his own submission entries and throws. Also, unlike other big men like Tom Burton/Mack Roesch, Fleming seems to be taking the submission game seriously, and we’ve already seen a huge skill jump between now and when he debuted against Takada. They are still not his forte obviously, but unlike his first outing where you could tell that he had no idea how to execute any submissions outside of the STF, here he put forth admirable attempts at the heel hook, and other leg attacks, showing that he is working hard on learning outside of his matches. This was fun and exciting, with the only major drawback that it could have gone on for a couple more minutes. *** ¾
ML: As with the previous match, this was more about the American who is learning getting ring time than something designed to feature the good native worker. The obvious difference being that Fleming actually has skill. Fleming is far from a finished product, but he appears to have a genuine desire to learn. His submissions aren't great yet, but he is always trying to think about finishing the match, rather than just controlling on the mat, and he showed some skill, for instance a nice roll into a kneebar. Similarly, his standup block is a bit robotic, but at least he has his hands up in is trying to protect himself, which puts him above the majority of the promotion, even though they certainly should know better. This match actually had a lot of interesting countering back and forth, and was much less predictable and repetitive than Kakihara vs. Silver. Fleming was ahead on points the whole way, but Miyato was always competitive, and was finding ways to put Fleming on the defensive enough that you believed he could come back. Miyato rolled through the wakigatame, but was a bit lackadaisical in the ensuing scramble, which could have resulted in him securing a guillotine, but instead wound up with Fleming taking his back and dropping down into a chickenwing facelock for the finish because apparently people still didn't realize how inferior this was to the rear naked choke. Not quite recommendable, partially because it was rather short (though that probably helped the quality overall by not extending Fleming), but definitely a fun match, probably **3/4 or so.
Next is the 2nd match from what may be the best pure wrestler that we’ve seen so far, in Steve Day, facing Yoji Anjo. While he lacked charisma and any sign of striking skills in his debut, Day more than made up for it in great wrestling, and a surprising understanding of submissions, especially for a debuting westerner at this stage. Day had a commendable debut against Takada, so it should be interesting to see what Anjo can pull out of him.
Before it became all the rage for BJJ guys with no striking skills in the late 90s circuit, here Steve Day pulls the tactic of covering one side of his face with his elbow, while he tries to carefully close the distance on Anjo. As you would expect, he eats some shots from his very quick opponent, but is able to secure the clinch and toss Anjo with some lovely Greco-Roman skills. This pattern repeats itself, only Anjo is showing surprising amounts of balance in the clinch, probably due to his judo background. Still, no amount of judo is likely to prevent you from being taken down by Steve Day, so it only served to make him work for it.
Still, despite his submission game being better than your average American newb, he is no match for Anjo and lacks the firepower to ever give him a serious threat. This regulates him to being a mostly one-trick pony, as he has 0% stats in his striking column. This was fast-paced, but never really felt like a contest as Day just didn’t have the tools to threaten Anjo. This was somewhat frustrating, as I like seeing someone with the legit skills of Day in this kind of format, but he is going to have to improve on areas outside of his wheelhouse if he wants to get above mid-card status. Tough to rate, but my final verdict is *** due to the fast pace and some excellent wrestling technique from Day.
ML: Though it is embarrassing seeing someone whose only standup tactic is to plod in while covering up like a vampire, this match had by far the most intensity and urgency we have seen since the opener. Both men were very explosive when they did something, adding to the sense of realism, and the general importance of succeeding in their tactics. Day may not have all around skills, but he fakes the things he's good at a lot less than any of the other wrestlers we have seen, really not dampening the power and drive necessary to to legitimately jerk the opponent around. Anjo had big advantages both in striking and submission, but there wasn't much you can do to keep Day from depositing him on the mat. To his credit, Day wasn't simply trying to control Anjo. On the contrary, he was taking too many chances (if this weren't a work), leaving his solid base to chase after ankles. This wasn't on par with Anjo's best work obviously, but was certainly one of his most realistic matches, and I really liked the aggression that both men displayed. ***
Now for a further demonstration of mind-numbingly inane booking, we have a repeat of Tatsuo Nakano vs. Tom Burton. At least Kakihara/Silver is forgivable, as despite its flaws, they were still somewhat entertaining matches thanks to the power of Kakihara. This, on the other hand, was a rematch that absolutely no one was asking for. Thankfully, this was 9 minutes instead of 30, so it was quick enough to not be an issue. This was a typical late-80s UWF style match, which is fine for what it was, but when compared to the modern technology that we’ve been witnessing lately, feels more and more out of place. **
ML: Wow, at this point I'm convinced that Gedo secretly booked this card, doing his best to figure out how a once mighty promotion could start drawing less than 400 fans at Korakuen Hall and get outdrawn at Budokan by Stardom, despite Stardom's illustrious track record of never drawing beyond the Korakuen level (thankfully Miyato didn't lose or devalue all his good workers and just do endless silly entertainment wrestling shenanigans until they reached this point). Nakano actually seemed a little better here, as he decided to give footwork a try, but Burton still just stood around and just wanted to grab him. This match was on par with the previous match, probably a little worse but at the same time less painful because it was so much shorter. There was one truly hilarious spot just before the finish where Burton fell missing an elbow, yet Nakano skill stumbled backwards across the ring and went flying through the ropes.
Now for another singles match featuring newcomer, Mark Fleming, and Yuko Miyato. I’m thankful that we get to see Fleming in another singles match, as when we last witnessed him, he was in a tag alongside Yoji Anjo, whereas this should be a better format to showcase his skills. Miyato has been totally on fire so far this year, so we may be in for a sleeper of a great match. Things start with Miyato going straight for the kill, firing off some heavy palms, and while Fleming is clearly not in his standard element, he does a good job of cutting off Miyato’s offense with a quick clinch, before tossing him away like a frisbee. Miyato shows some strong judo in response, with a nice kata-guruma (fireman’s carry) into a hammerlock.
The rest of the match was a treat, as these two had good chemistry with one another, with Miyato having the edge in speed, striking, and submissions, and Fleming with wrestling and strength. What’s refreshing is unlike other wrestlers similar to Fleming, who would simply get a takedown and smother the opponent for 10 minutes, we saw some nice variety from Mark, who was using his wrestling skill to slow Miyato down, but would also generate plenty of attacks with his own submission entries and throws. Also, unlike other big men like Tom Burton/Mack Roesch, Fleming seems to be taking the submission game seriously, and we’ve already seen a huge skill jump between now and when he debuted against Takada. They are still not his forte obviously, but unlike his first outing where you could tell that he had no idea how to execute any submissions outside of the STF, here he put forth admirable attempts at the heel hook, and other leg attacks, showing that he is working hard on learning outside of his matches. This was fun and exciting, with the only major drawback that it could have gone on for a couple more minutes. *** ¾
ML: As with the previous match, this was more about the American who is learning getting ring time than something designed to feature the good native worker. The obvious difference being that Fleming actually has skill. Fleming is far from a finished product, but he appears to have a genuine desire to learn. His submissions aren't great yet, but he is always trying to think about finishing the match, rather than just controlling on the mat, and he showed some skill, for instance a nice roll into a kneebar. Similarly, his standup block is a bit robotic, but at least he has his hands up in is trying to protect himself, which puts him above the majority of the promotion, even though they certainly should know better. This match actually had a lot of interesting countering back and forth, and was much less predictable and repetitive than Kakihara vs. Silver. Fleming was ahead on points the whole way, but Miyato was always competitive, and was finding ways to put Fleming on the defensive enough that you believed he could come back. Miyato rolled through the wakigatame, but was a bit lackadaisical in the ensuing scramble, which could have resulted in him securing a guillotine, but instead wound up with Fleming taking his back and dropping down into a chickenwing facelock for the finish because apparently people still didn't realize how inferior this was to the rear naked choke. Not quite recommendable, partially because it was rather short (though that probably helped the quality overall by not extending Fleming), but definitely a fun match, probably **3/4 or so.
Next is the 2nd match from what may be the best pure wrestler that we’ve seen so far, in Steve Day, facing Yoji Anjo. While he lacked charisma and any sign of striking skills in his debut, Day more than made up for it in great wrestling, and a surprising understanding of submissions, especially for a debuting westerner at this stage. Day had a commendable debut against Takada, so it should be interesting to see what Anjo can pull out of him.
Before it became all the rage for BJJ guys with no striking skills in the late 90s circuit, here Steve Day pulls the tactic of covering one side of his face with his elbow, while he tries to carefully close the distance on Anjo. As you would expect, he eats some shots from his very quick opponent, but is able to secure the clinch and toss Anjo with some lovely Greco-Roman skills. This pattern repeats itself, only Anjo is showing surprising amounts of balance in the clinch, probably due to his judo background. Still, no amount of judo is likely to prevent you from being taken down by Steve Day, so it only served to make him work for it.
Still, despite his submission game being better than your average American newb, he is no match for Anjo and lacks the firepower to ever give him a serious threat. This regulates him to being a mostly one-trick pony, as he has 0% stats in his striking column. This was fast-paced, but never really felt like a contest as Day just didn’t have the tools to threaten Anjo. This was somewhat frustrating, as I like seeing someone with the legit skills of Day in this kind of format, but he is going to have to improve on areas outside of his wheelhouse if he wants to get above mid-card status. Tough to rate, but my final verdict is *** due to the fast pace and some excellent wrestling technique from Day.
ML: Though it is embarrassing seeing someone whose only standup tactic is to plod in while covering up like a vampire, this match had by far the most intensity and urgency we have seen since the opener. Both men were very explosive when they did something, adding to the sense of realism, and the general importance of succeeding in their tactics. Day may not have all around skills, but he fakes the things he's good at a lot less than any of the other wrestlers we have seen, really not dampening the power and drive necessary to to legitimately jerk the opponent around. Anjo had big advantages both in striking and submission, but there wasn't much you can do to keep Day from depositing him on the mat. To his credit, Day wasn't simply trying to control Anjo. On the contrary, he was taking too many chances (if this weren't a work), leaving his solid base to chase after ankles. This wasn't on par with Anjo's best work obviously, but was certainly one of his most realistic matches, and I really liked the aggression that both men displayed. ***