Into the Indies 12.21.10: Mr. Gannosuke Produces Results (Part 2)

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Into the Indies, the column that don’t need no minute man.

Last week, I began a review of a December 29, 2009 Japanese indy show promoted by former FMW wrestler Mr. Gannosuke. I reviewed everything up until the main event, made some vague comments about how I couldn’t get to that bout in the first installment of the review, and put up my big “TO BE CONTINUED . . .” sign.

Now we’re back seven days later, and, though part of me wants to just review the match and let this become evident as things develop, I can’t think of a good way to do this column without stating it up front: The reason that I didn’t want to review this match with the rest of the show is because it goes over one hour. That’s right, two men in one singles match wrestling for over sixty minutes. It’s a rare sort of spectacle in professional wrestling, and I thought that it deserved to be showcased on its own.

Who are the two wrestlers having this epic matchup? The first is GENTARO. Long-time readers of I2I have seen GENTARO on and off, but he’s never really been a featured player. The man was one of the final products of the FMW dojo before the promotion folded, really cutting his teeth in the successor promotions to that company, including WMF and Apache Army. He now has over a decade of professional wrestling experience, and, though he has never really had a significant run in any major promotion, he has been a very solid hand for at least the past five years, often having the best straight match on cards where over the top deathmatches are the focus.

GENTARO’s dance partner for the bout is a young man named Munenori Sawa. Independent wrestling fans in the United States are familiar with Sawa’s name because he has been brought in for a couple of relatively high profile shots with EVOLVE, one of Gabe Sapolsky’s post-ROH projects. However, Sapolsky didn’t just pull Sawa’s name at random out of his Japanese rolodex in order to book him. Sawa was selected to make the trip to the states because he is perhaps THE young rising star of independent wrestling in the Land of the Rising Sun these days. He started his career with the shoot-style promotion BattlArts and from there has gone on to work a more traditional pro wrestling style as a regular in ZERO1 as well as having several more comedic “off ring matches” with the wacky company DDT.

The match between the two men on Gannosuke’s show was set to be the best two out of three falls and it was to be for GENTARO’s Independent Junior Heavyweight Championship, a title that has slipped in and out of activity since 1993 and was defended in FMW during that company’s prime.

Let’s take a look at what GENTARO and Sawa are able to do with nothing more than two bodies, one ring, and sixty minutes.

GENTARO (c) vs. Munenori Sawa for the Independent Jr. Heavyweight Title in a Two out of Three Falls Match

We’re down to the mat in the opening seconds, with GENTARO working a traditional headlock and Sawa attempting to maneuver him out of it and into more MMA-inspired holds. Specifically, Sawa looks for a choke at one point, but they’re too close to the ropes and GENTARO gets out of it with a legbar. Sawa counters that in a visually stunning fashion, hooking his free leg around GENTARO’s head and kicking him in the face. The first nearfall of the bout comes when Sawa backs GENTARO into the corner and the veteran climbs the ropes, leaping off the second with a quick sunset flip attempt. It gets two as Sawa reverses and gets two of his own with a cradle, which is then reversed one more time by GENTARO for another nearfall. The wrestlers trade even more close in attempts when GENTARO misses a dropkick, giving Sawa an opening to do so. The exchange of lateral presses comes to an end when Sawa sees an opportunity to go for a triangle choke. GENTARO gets to the ropes before it’s ever fully applied and the wrestlers stand up. They trade some strikes in that position as the match starts to open up, and, before long, we’re on to leg kicks and a Sawa kneebar. GENTARO rolls through the hold and regains a vertical base, going into the bow and arrow submission. Sawa rolls out of the hold off of GENTARO’s knees, landing in perfect position to attempt a cross arm breaker. The champion is able to block it for a bit, but, before long, Sawa has full extension. That only lasts for a few seconds, however, as the champ rolls through and goes back to the bow and arrow. Sawa grabs the ropes to escape, but he’s off-balance and gets hit by a GENTARO dropkick. However Sawa, who is adept at fighting from his back, reaches up from the mat and takes GENTARO down, placing him in another leg submission.

The BattlArts star is able to position himself in such a way that he can hit body blows and palm strikes to the face while still working the hold, but GENTARO also takes advantage of that position by poking a finger into his opponent’s eyes to break the leglock. Once he’s out, GENTARO starts to avail himself to more heelish tactics, tearing at the younger wrestler’s face before setting him up for a piledriver. Sawa avoids the hold, though, dropping down and grabbing a leg to pull GENTARO off of his feet. Sawa slaps on a variation on the Rings of Saturn and eventually turns it over into a backslide, but he can only get two. After kicking out, GENTARO gets up to his feet and backs Sawa up on to the ropes, pulling him off with an ICONOCLASM~! and going straight into a cross armbreaker attempt. Great transition there. Sawa is out of it quickly, though, and it’s not much longer before he is kicking at GENTARO’s knee. One of the strikes is caught and turned into a dragon screw leg whip, but it doesn’t phase Sawa for too long as he is able to move the former WMF star into the corner. Munenori puts the boots to him there to the point that GENTARO tries to roll out under the bottom rope. Sawa momentarily stops him, applying a cross arm breaker while the champion lays underneath the ropes. Obviously such a hold is illegal, and the referee quickly breaks it up.

GENTARO does roll to the outside after that, and Sawa follows him with kicks. It’s not long before the champion has gained the advantage, though, as he blocks another kick and whips his opponent’s knee into the ringpost before giving him the Ric Flair knee-crusher. Sawa tries to go back on the offensive by rubbing a pile of streamers left over from the wrestlers’ entrances into GENTARO’s face, but it doesn’t get him too far. (Go figure.) Before long, GENTARO has pulled Sawa up the bleachers where the fans are seated, and the two fight over a vertical suplex on that structure before both falling down and taking a nasty spill down the steps. As soon as they hit, the wrestlers realize that they’re closing in on the referee’s twenty count, so they both shoot back into the squared circle ASAP to avoid being counted out. In an odd bit, the lights momentarily dim, presumably due to electrical problems in the building. INDY! Despite the technical difficulties, GENTARO stays right on his man, landing a twisting senton from the second rope for a two count.

Sawa fires back with headbutts and a power drive elbow, and GENTARO again rolls under the ropes for a breather. When he gets back up to his feet, it’s time for another strike exchange, this one getting even more intense than the ones that preceded it. GENTARO deals out one chop so hard that Sawa goes down to his knees in pain, and Munenori responds with a palm strike that knocks the taste out of GENTARO’s mouth. The sequence culminates with GENTARO hitting a pop-up enzuguiri, but, as seems to be the theme in this match, when he goes to follow up on the offense, Sawa is able to grab his leg from the mat and take him down. The wrestlers jockey for position on the canvas, culminating in Sawa rolling to the outside. It does not appear that he will at first, but GENTARO eventually follows and lets loose with some more strikes, one of which appears to hit Sawa a bit low. GENTARO then applies a leglock on the floor, which the referee exits the ring to break up rather than continuing his count. While in the hold, Sawa slides underneath the ring apron a bit, and, while there, he finds a plastic bucket. “BUCKETO!” the Japanese fans yell. Sawa slips out of the hold and puts the bucket on his opponent’s head, then punching GENTARO in the face.

For whatever reason, when he returns to the ring, GENTARO puts the bucket on his head like a helmet, causing Sawa to go out of the ring to grab a bucket of his own. When he gets back in between the ropes, GENTARO engages him in some conversation about the pails, but it’s a trap, as GENTARO uses the distraction to use Sawa’s own tactic against him, placing a bucket over Munenori’s head and punching him in the face. GENTARO follows that up with a Randy Savage elbow from the top, but it only gets two. Sawa goes wild and responds with a plethora of kicks, which send the champion to the floor one more time. Sawa looks to follow him out with a dive but misses by a country mile, causing GENTARO to again pull him up to the top of the bleachers. GENTARO sets up for what I can only assume is going to be a running kick on the top bleacher, but, in a surprising spot, Sawa is able to forearm him and then hit a HANDSPRING BACK ELBOW~! on the bleacher. That was a narrow platform indeed for that type of move. Once more the wrestlers realize that they’re getting close to the referee hitting his twenty count, so they make a mad dash for the ring. Before they can get in, GENTARO sneaks in a DDT ON THE FLOOR! It looks like Sawa is going to be counted out to end the first fall, but he does manage to pop back up and reenter the ring at the last possible moment.

Back on the inside, there’s a bit more comedy, as Sawa attempts a giant swing but realizes that his opponent is just too heavy, so he ultimately gives up on the move and just applies a leglock. Sawa escapes it and is caught in GENTARO’s version of the giant swing. Despite the fact that it didn’t last too long, the wrestlers sell it like they’re both remarkably dizzy, and the end result is GENTARO applying the Scorpion Deathlock, one of his finishing holds . Sawa does a pushup out of it and rolls into the ropes to break his opponent’s grasp, and here come some more strikes. Sawa decisively wins this round, with GENTARO collapsing to the mat in a heap after the last shot. While he’s down, Sawa goes to the outside and throws two plastic chairs into the ring. He challenges GENTARO to an unusual duel, as each man sits down in one of the chairs and takes turns slapping the other in the face. Then, all of a sudden, GENTARO pops out of his seated position and wraps his legs around Sawa’s head as though he’s looking for a headscissors. The challenger blocks the hold, though, grabbing GENTARO’s legs and flipping him up and over his chair into a pinning combination. It only results in a two count.

GENTARO stops to give Sawa some credit for that one, and now the men test out one another’s European uppercuts. Sawa, after taking a particularly nasty one from GENTARO, rebounds off of the ropes and BLASTS him with a lariat for two, with GENTARO not just kicking out but also rolling through the pin to get a nearfall of his own. GENTARO takes Sawa off of his feet and heads up for a senton atomico, but it misses. Sawa pops up to the second rope and comes off with a version of the kappo kick, which connects with the champ’s head. A series of three diving knee strikes also connect for the challenger, and they take GENTARO out to the ring apron. Sawa tries to suplex his opponent back into the ring, but GENTARO blocks it and pulls Sawa out onto the apron. While there, Sawa hits a series of high kicks to his opponent’s head, leading into an armbar variation around the ropes. Of course, the official is forced to break it up, so back to the ring we go, where Sawa puts GENTARO in the corner and simultaneously puts pressure on the arm with his boot and hits the champ with body blows. Another high kick to the head puts GENTARO down to his knees, and that’s the setup for a backdrop suplex. It gets two, as Sawa was unable to cover immediately due to his own exhaustion.

Both wrestlers get up to their feet, and now they trade flying kicks, though GENTARO’s misses and leaves Sawa an opening to attempt his Octopus hold finisher. GENTARO fights it off and looks for his own version of the move, though Sawa fights THAT off and goes back to his own attempt. However, before too long, Sawa rolls through it and takes his man down to look for another cross arm breaker. He slaps it on, extends it full, and GENTARO taps out to finally bring the first fall of the match to a close after almost FORTY MINUTES.

After a brief rest period, the wrestlers shake hands to start fall number two. They head into the Greco-Roman knuckle lock, which sees GENTARO drop down to his back in an attempt at some sort of offense. Sawa is a step ahead of him and drops down into a pin attempt, though, getting a two count. Sawa then applies a chicken wing/toehold combination and is able to work on it for some time until GENTARO again goes for the eyes. The champion continues to gouge at his opponent’s face when the wrestlers are back on their feet, and then he slaps on a cravat. That hold eventually becomes a DDT variation, after which GENTARO drops a leg. He can’t go for the cover, though, because Sawa takes him down and tries for more mat wrestling. In a really brutal move, Sawa puts on what is essentially a triangle choke without the armbar, using it to PUNCH GENTARO IN THE FACE instead of looking for a submission victory. Another STF variation is Sawa’s next trick, but GENTARO makes the ropes. The champ sets up for and connects with an underhook piledriver, though it looks like Sawa is able to roll through it slightly and land more on his shoulders than his head. This is confirmed when GENTARO can’t get a three count off of it and Sawa is able to catch him in a couple of rollups seconds later.

Another rolling kick from Sawa connects, though it was only a glancing blow. GENTARO catches one of his opponent’s free legs and applies the good ole’ figure four leglock around the ringpost, which the referee is quick to get broken up. Both wrestlers wind up on the floor as a result of this, and GENTARO gives his man another knee crusher before going up to the top rope and trying for a double axe handle. Sawa sidesteps and catches him with a fist to the gut, though, then sending GENTARO headfirst into a ringside chair and headbutting him. Sawa hits his version of the Ole Kick but does some damage to himself by running through some chairs in the audience. Before long we’ve got another double countout tease, though this time it’s GENTARO who almost doesn’t make it back into the ring, as Sawa nails him with some last second kicks. When we are in the squared circle again, GENTARO hits a high angle German, but Sawa is able to kick out and two and nine-tenths. GENTARO follows up with a lariat and some kicks, ultimately setting up a leglock that he turns into the SCORPION~! I thought for sure that would be a submission to end fall two, but, instead, Sawa rolls through it and gets the ropes one more time.

Once he’s out of the hold, the challenger gets the champion with a dragon screw and a leaping knee strike in the corner. Sawa pulls his man out to center ring for some follow-up offense but makes a misstep that allows GENTARO to catch him offguard with a dragon screw that leads into the figure four leglock. Sawa fights it and eventually escapes, but he’s taken down seconds later by another big GENTARO lariat. Both men are down for a while, and, when they get back up, GENTARO ducks a Sawa kick and attempts the Octopus. This time he is actually able to lock it in. The hold goes on for some time and the crowd starts to chant for Sawa to tap, which he refuses to do. GENTARO perhaps sensing he has done enough damage but that his opponent will simply not give in, lets go of the hold but immediately hits a German suplex, which gets him a three count to tie the match up at one fall apiece. The total match time is now pushing up on the sixty minute mark.

Sawa doesn’t even wait for the rest period to expire, as he immediately explodes out of his corner as soon as he can and ambushes GENTARO with elbows and boots in the corner. He also hits several palm strikes at center ring and looks for a rana, but GENTARO catches him and turns it into a cradle of his own for a two count. The champion then goes back to a leglock to work Sawa’s injured knee and tries to roll it up into the Scorpion as he had done previously in the match, but, as he is attempting to transition the hold, the bell rings and we are alerted that the one hour time limit has expired. As this two out of three falls match is still tied at one fall apiece, the bout is ruled a draw and GENTARO retains his championship.

Match Thoughts: Throwing aside Iron Man Matches, which are a different creature altogether due to the structure of their rules, there really aren’t that many hour long singles bouts to compare this one to. However, as far as those limited matches go, this one definitely held its own. Granted, it wasn’t in the “greatest matches of all time” category with Steamboat/Flair, and it was probably also a step or two below the broadways that Bryan Danielson became known for during his Ring of Honor Title reign. It was still VERY solid, though, worlds better than virtually anything you would see in front of a crowd of 250 fans in the United States. One thing that I appreciated in particular was that the wrestlers were able to work in elements of almost every style of wrestling, including big striking, mat wrestling, high flying, faux MMA, hardcore, and even a smattering of comedy spots. It is true that they had a couple of spots that they came back to on a fairly regular basis, including the tease of the double count out, Sawa’s out of nowhere takedowns on GENTARO, and the strike exchanges. However, they always came back to things in a way that made them feel like they were part of a “theme” as opposed to being tired gimmicks that the wrestlers kept resorting to because they couldn’t think of anything else. Even the strike trading spots, which often annoy me because they’re so cliche in Japan, came off well here because there was a logical progression them throughout the match, with the early ones feeling like points where the wrestlers were feeling each other out and testing one another’s mettle, with the intensity of subsequent strike trades increasing as the wrestlers got more fired up and the physicality finally coming down a bit in the later sequences due to the mounting fatigue of the athletes. All in all, perhaps the biggest compliment that I can give the performance of these two is that they put on an hour long match that didn’t feel like it was an hour long. Sometimes a match that only runs fifteen minutes will lose my interest and have me checking my watch towards the finish, but this bout literally had my attention the whole time and felt like it was only half as long as it was. Both GENTARO and Sawa deserve worlds of credit for this performance, and hopefully Sawa in particular gets a lot more opportunities in 2011 than he has in 2009 and 2010. ****

Overall

Backing up from the main event and taking a look at the December 29, 2009 “Mr. Gannosuke Produce” show from top to bottom (i.e. including the undercard that I reviewed last week), I have to say that I would almost definitely rank it in my five favorite shows of those that I have reviewed for this column. Though the opener was middling, everything after that was highly entertaining professional wrestling, and what I liked more than anything else was that every match on the card was DIFFERENT. In a lot of promotions, especially WWE, uniformity seems to be the rule of the day, with a mistaken belief that there is only one right way to do a professional wrestling. However, that’s not the case, as the ultimate goal of a wrestling match is to draw money and get a crowd reaction, and many different varied styles of wrestling have done that over the years. What’s great about this show is that it highlighted the diversity that makes professional wrestling great, giving us not just matches that were different from one another but also matches that were different from what you’ll see on a lot of other shows. There was a well-worked women’s three way, two solid tag team matches featuring teams that a lot of other promoters wouldn’t put together, and an HOUR LONG MAIN EVENT. There was something for everybody here. This is the kind of show that I can’t imagine you not loving if you already love the Japanese independents. If you’re into the US indy scene and looking to make a transition, this would be an awesome starting point. Even if you’ve only ever craved wrestling from the big leagues, I would be amazed if you didn’t find something you like here unless you’re just such a mark for production values that you can’t get over the low quality cameras used and the rinky dink look of the venue. However, for the majority of people who consider themselves wrestling fans, this is a card that you should probably go out of your way to watch.

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