- Joined
- Aug 4, 2016
- Messages
- 720
- Reaction score
- 395
*Archives of this series, along with tons of info and MMA/PURO reviews can be found at www.quebrada.net*
We are back again, this time at everyone’s favorite bowling alley, the Fukuoka Hakata Starlanes, only this time with the PWFG crew in tow, ready to continue the road that can only lead to innumerable Kakutogi glories. It’s 9-28-91, and we are welcomed to a montage of the PWFG clan training and warming up, when one quickly realizes that all pro wrestlers are really bodybuilders at heart, for between the various sleeveless neon muscle shirts, and Minoru Suzuki’s hot pink Zubaz, we aren’t sure if we are about to witness a wrestling event, or a Flex Magazine photo-shoot.
Suzuki....looking forward to his next Mega Mass 4000 shake.
Hope is quickly recovered when we find an ever-aging Fujiwara, who seems to be immune to the pastel charms of this wayward generation, wandering around before the show’s start, overlooking the merchandise table, before giving us an interview. We then jump right into the evening’s proceedings, as Lato Kiraware is set to face Kazuo Takahashi. When we last saw these two, Takahashi had a very respectable showing against Greco-Roman specialist Duane Koslowski, while Kiraware was forced to completely embarrass himself, as Fujiwara’s personal punching bag.
Kiraware comes out swinging against Takahashi, putting forth some reasonably stiff palm strikes, which Takahashi is only able to cover up and deflect a portion of them. After taking some stiff shots, Takahashi wisely shoots in with a deep single and takes Kiraware to the mat. Surprisingly, the strikes don’t stop once the fight hits the canvas, as Takahashi throws some punches to both the face, and midsection of Kiraware, looking to try and create an opening, but Kiraware was too close to being underneath the rope, so the ref orders a restart.
This was a gift for Lato as he wastes no time in firing off some more palm strikes, landing an especially epic one, flush into Takahashi’s face around 3 ½ mins into the match. A dazed Takahashi starts to counterattack from the clinch, even delivering a headbutt to Lato (which apparently are legal in PWFG) but is taken down to the mat and forced to start defending from his guard. They both continue to deliver stiff slaps to each other while on the ground, before Takahashi starts to wiggle out from underneath, and attempts to stand up, which causes Lato to deliver a vicious suplex, which leads to Lato scoring a knockdown.
The rest of the fight is basically Kiraware slapping the daylights out of Takahashi and is ended when Takahashi is caught in a guillotine, after attempting another single leg takedown.
I cannot believe I’m saying this, but this was a good match. No, it didn’t have any impressive positional changes ,or grappling wizardry on display, but out of all the worked PWFG matches so far, this probably felt the closest to an actual MMA fight, minus the flashy suplex, and Kiraware not completely following up his attacks when Takahashi was dazed. In fact, outside of those with a trained eye (and especially to the audience that witnessed it) this would totally pass for real, and that is really the magic behind this style. To be able to feature pro wrestling in a stripped down, no nonsense fashion, and still be entertaining, is a tough balancing act, and we have to give Takahashi a lot of credit, as his willingness to take some stiff shots, really pushed what would could have been a mediocre entry, into the realm of greatness.
We are back again, this time at everyone’s favorite bowling alley, the Fukuoka Hakata Starlanes, only this time with the PWFG crew in tow, ready to continue the road that can only lead to innumerable Kakutogi glories. It’s 9-28-91, and we are welcomed to a montage of the PWFG clan training and warming up, when one quickly realizes that all pro wrestlers are really bodybuilders at heart, for between the various sleeveless neon muscle shirts, and Minoru Suzuki’s hot pink Zubaz, we aren’t sure if we are about to witness a wrestling event, or a Flex Magazine photo-shoot.
Suzuki....looking forward to his next Mega Mass 4000 shake.
Hope is quickly recovered when we find an ever-aging Fujiwara, who seems to be immune to the pastel charms of this wayward generation, wandering around before the show’s start, overlooking the merchandise table, before giving us an interview. We then jump right into the evening’s proceedings, as Lato Kiraware is set to face Kazuo Takahashi. When we last saw these two, Takahashi had a very respectable showing against Greco-Roman specialist Duane Koslowski, while Kiraware was forced to completely embarrass himself, as Fujiwara’s personal punching bag.
Kiraware comes out swinging against Takahashi, putting forth some reasonably stiff palm strikes, which Takahashi is only able to cover up and deflect a portion of them. After taking some stiff shots, Takahashi wisely shoots in with a deep single and takes Kiraware to the mat. Surprisingly, the strikes don’t stop once the fight hits the canvas, as Takahashi throws some punches to both the face, and midsection of Kiraware, looking to try and create an opening, but Kiraware was too close to being underneath the rope, so the ref orders a restart.
This was a gift for Lato as he wastes no time in firing off some more palm strikes, landing an especially epic one, flush into Takahashi’s face around 3 ½ mins into the match. A dazed Takahashi starts to counterattack from the clinch, even delivering a headbutt to Lato (which apparently are legal in PWFG) but is taken down to the mat and forced to start defending from his guard. They both continue to deliver stiff slaps to each other while on the ground, before Takahashi starts to wiggle out from underneath, and attempts to stand up, which causes Lato to deliver a vicious suplex, which leads to Lato scoring a knockdown.
The rest of the fight is basically Kiraware slapping the daylights out of Takahashi and is ended when Takahashi is caught in a guillotine, after attempting another single leg takedown.
I cannot believe I’m saying this, but this was a good match. No, it didn’t have any impressive positional changes ,or grappling wizardry on display, but out of all the worked PWFG matches so far, this probably felt the closest to an actual MMA fight, minus the flashy suplex, and Kiraware not completely following up his attacks when Takahashi was dazed. In fact, outside of those with a trained eye (and especially to the audience that witnessed it) this would totally pass for real, and that is really the magic behind this style. To be able to feature pro wrestling in a stripped down, no nonsense fashion, and still be entertaining, is a tough balancing act, and we have to give Takahashi a lot of credit, as his willingness to take some stiff shots, really pushed what would could have been a mediocre entry, into the realm of greatness.
Last edited: