Into the Indies 08.16.11: Happy IndyVersary! (Part 1)

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Into the Indies, the column that is now in the terrible twos.

I2I made its debut on 411mania in August 2009. Last year at around this time we celebrated what I referred to as the column’s first IndyVersary (read Part 1 or Part 2). Now that we’re another year older, the IndyVersary is returning with the same segments that made it so popular twelve months ago. Specifically, they are:

I2I’s Top 10 Wrestlers of Year 2 – One of my favorite things about this column is that it exposes me (and by extension the readers) to a wide variety of pro wrestlers who cross numerous countries and styles of combat. I’ve compiled a list of the ten competitors who have impressed me the most over the course of the past twelve months so that, if you’re trying to introduce yourself to the indies, you can track down bouts from some of the hottest contemporary performers. We’ll take a look at entries ten through six this week and five through one next week.

The Indy-Dex – Did you start reading I2I part of the way through its run? Are you brand new to the column and interested in learning more about the promotions that we have already chronicled? Well, you’re in luck. In the Indy-Dex, we will list every wrestling promotion that has been covered in the virtual pages of this column, provide a brief bit of history of the company, and link to every column in which the promotion has gotten some degree of attention. It’s the perfect way to learn more about a specific group or groups, especially the ones that we have covered the most heavily . . . and we’re not just doing this for year two. The Indy-Dex has grown and will cover years one AND two.

I2I’s Top 10 Matches of Year 2 – As with the Top 10 Wrestlers, this one is fairly self-explanatory. In Japanese wrestling much more than in its American counterpart, it is the matches that make the world go round. As a result, it would be silly of us to recap the year in I2I without exploring which bouts we’ve reviewed are at the top of the heap. Once again, we will have the first five entries on the list this week and the next group coming in next week. I should also note that, in this year more than I2I’s first year, I’ve done a lot of “retro” columns, looking back at events that are largely from the 1990’s. When it comes to the Top 10 Matches of Year 2, I’m only going to be considering those matches which took place in the 2010’s.

Guest (High) Spots – With a few very limited exceptions, I’m really the only guy covering this type of wrestling on 411mania. One day, a very odd little part of my brain thought, “Hmmm, I wonder what other writers would think if they were exposed to Japanese indy action?” I acted on that thought, recruiting four of the website’s finest and requesting that they all review a Japanese indy match of a different type, with all of the matches being hand-picked by yours truly. Who took me up on my offer? You’re going to have to keep reading in order to find out.

Number 10: Emi Sakurasize=4>

Twelve months ago, Emi Sakura topped our list of best wrestlers of I2I’s Year One. This year, she’s toward the bottom of the list, but she’s still here. Why the difference? It’s not because Sakura is any less of a wrestler. It’s frankly just because, for whatever reason, I’ve not seen near as many of her matches in Year Two as I have in Year One. As far as where her career has gone since the last time that we saw her, Emi is largely in the same place now as she was a year ago, booking and training young girls to be professional wrestlers in her own company, Ice Ribbon. However, because Ice Ribbon has gained more and more popularity amongst joshi fans, Sakura has also been able to garner more bookings for outside companies in the past twelve months, including having an emotional hair vs. hair match against JWP’s Kaori Yoneyama (which Emi lost) and a series of matches against Meiko Satomura, who is in many ways Sakura’s double given that she’s a joshi star from many years ago who has recently regained relevance by heading a troupe of rookie grapplers. Though Satomura and her SENDAI Girls are good, for my money, if you’re looking for top notch women’s wrestling in Japan these days, you should look no further than Emi and her Ice Ribbon followers.

Number 9: Jefferson Saintsize=4>

This might be a little bit of a surprise entry, as I don’t showcase very much American pro wrestling in this column. However, in the few times that I have, it’s usually been the independent group Beyond Wrestling, which was originally based in the Midwest but has subsequently moved on to the east coast. Of all of the individuals who have appeared on the Beyond Wrestling roster, none of them have impressed me more than Jefferson Saint. Why does Saint impress so much? Because he stands out from the majority of the wrestlers on the US indy circuit these days, as he’s not about flippy-dos and head-dropping. He’s got a much more old school flavor than most of his contemporaries, from his physique right down to his grappling techniques. Simply put, instead of doing what everybody else is doing, the guy has taken it upon himself to find a way to stand out, and it WORKS. Hopefully, before long he has an opportunity to showcase his wares on a larger stage, even if it is still on the independent circuit.

Number 8: Keisuke Ishiisize=4>

If there is one wrestler who has come out of nowhere to surprise me with his appearance on this list, it’s Keisuke Ishii. Ishii has just over three years of experience in professional wrestling, having been trained by and having wrestled almost exclusively with DDT. In addition to performing higher and higher up on the DDT cards over the course of the past twelve months, Ishii has also apparently caught the eyes of some folks in New Japan Pro Wrestling, as he’s recently appeared on cards for NJPW’s rookie-based sub-brand, NEVER. Ishii has performed very well as he’s moved up in the world, being rewarded with a singles match on the recent Ryogoku Peter Pan Show (DDT’s biggest event of the year), an opportunity to book his own DDT card, and a slot in the promotion’s wacky, attention-grabbing campground pro wrestling match for 2011. Though he could use a personality that’s a little bit more defined to really put him over the top as a performer, Ishii is coming along just fine in between the ropes and proving to everybody that he more than belongs on DDT shows alongside the likes of Kota Ibushi and Sanshiro Takagi, even if he is a few pegs below the main event.

Number 7: Tsuyoshi Kikuchisize=4>

And now we go to the complete opposite end of the spectrum. With Keisuke Ishii, we were profiling a wrestler beginning his career on the Japanese independent scene, hoping to move up to the big leagues sooner rather than later. With Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, we’re profiling a wrestler who spent a significant amount of time in the big leagues and is now winding down his career by wrestling on the Japanese independent scene. Kikuchi, though not quite a singles main eventer, was a big cog in the wheel of All Japan Pro Wrestling back in its heyday, regularly teaming with Kenta Kobashi and being involved in the promotion’s junior heavyweight division. While in AJPW, he was involved in two matches achieved ***** status in the eyes of the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer. Kikuchi continued his career in Pro Wrestling NOAH after that company spun off of All Japan in 2000, though he was let go just last year and has been showing up in all kinds of off-the-wall places since then, including his old stomping ground of AJPW, Dragon Gate, NEVER, and even DDT. Though I have yet to see him put on a match as great as what he put out in his prime, he’s done a great job of upholding the AJPW tradition of being an awesome wrestler when you’re young and converting into an awesome COMEDY wrestler when you’re old, just like Giant Baba did. Kikuchi, though still a solid in-ring performer, is now the king of yelling wacky phrases and making insane facial expressions, making him a ridiculously entertaining wrestler.

Number 6: Menso-re Oyajisize=4>

Rounding out the first half of the list is Okinawa Pro Wrestling’s Menso-re Oyaji. When I first saw Oyaji wrestle, I never thought I’d be including him on a list like this. He had a goofy look, with a Hawaiian shirt, a grill on his head, a mustache drawn onto his mask, and an omni-present beer can. I didn’t know what the hell his getup was supposed to represent, and I also wasn’t the biggest fan of his the ring, as he was a really bland lucharesu guy who was a little bit clunky in his movement. Then, about a year passed, and, in that year, Menso-re Oyaji got AWESOME. First of all, he dedicated some time to his body, and, though he isn’t insanely cut, he now looks significantly more athletic than he used to. Also, his in-ring work became a fair deal more fluid, as he looked like a natural between the ropes as opposed to a guy off the streets who was just starting off. Plus, in that time, I learned what his gimmick was supposed to be, i.e. a walking embodiment of every stereotype that the Japanese have of people from Okinawa. He rolls those stereotypes into an entertaining series of comedy spots that are peppered throughout his matches, making him a more complete wrestler and displaying his fair amount of charisma. Okinawa Pro is one of the more obscure indy groups that we review here, and, of all their talent, Menso-re is the one that I would like to see get a break elsewhere.

Head on back next week to see which wrestlers have been declared the top five performers of the past year of I2I!

100% Luchasize=4>

100% Lucha is the only South American wrestling promotion that has ever been covered in I2I. Based on a business model for professional wrestling that was popular with children in Argentina in the 1970’s, it features very large, muscular men portraying odd characters like wrestling lawyers and hockey players. It doesn’t generate the greatest professional wrestling matches in the world, but it’s fun to look at once or twice as a curiosity and to see just how well the sport can be marketed.

June 20, 2010: Featuring the wrestling bus driver

Apache Armysize=4>

Apache Army began as a group of wrestlers who were affiliated with FMW and had nothing better to do with themselves when that company went under. Over the years, they picked up a few additional members and started running their own shows under the Apache banner, many of which were headlined by deathmatches. In late 2009, Apache Army temporarily closed when its head wrestlers, Kintaru Kanemura, was involved in a sex scandal, causing most of the Apache roster to jump to a new company named FREEDOMS. However, when Kanemura’s name was cleared, he returned to wrestling and is now running shows under the Apache Army banner again.

December 25, 2008: Nutsville X-Mas
January 16, 2009: Sasaki vs. Kasai and much more.
March 25, 2011: Vader brings his son to Japan.

BattlArtssize=4>

We took a look at a lone BattlArts match for the first time in Year Two of I2I. That’s actually a pretty big omission in the history of the column, as BattlArts has been around since 1996 and still has some relevance to the wrestling scene, as it’s producing some great up and comers like Munenori Sawa. BattlArts is perhaps the last significant promotion remaining in Japan to promote a “worked shoot” style of professional wrestling, which emulates mixed martial arts far more than it does a traditional professional wrestling style. It’s hard hitting, there are a ton of submissions, and it’s a great group to watch if you like technical wrestling mixed with a few stiff strikes.

July 26, 2008: Women’s Shoot Wrestling with Ray vs. Oikawa

Big Japan Wrestlingsize=4>

Believe it or not, Big Japan is sixteen years old. The group, originally founded by Kendo Nagasaki in 1995, cashed in on the insane popularity of deathmatches in that year and turned it into a business that still thrives today. Originally, it gained cult popularity as a result of over the top stipulation bouts, which, for example, would involve things like piranhas, buckets of salt, and scorpions. Over the years, it started relying a lot less on shock value and a lot more on solid professional wrestling, even though the blood and guts deathmatches always remained the top draw. These days, wrestlers like Jun Kasai and Abdullah Kobayashi make it one of the most entertaining indies in Japan if you can get past the gore.

August 19, 1996: Piranha Death Match
May 29, 1997: An Early Tag Match from Tajiri’s Career
September 23, 1998: Alligator Death match
May 26, 2006: Kobayashi vs. An Octopus
June 12, 2009: BJW vs. CHIKARA (Night 1)
June 13, 2009: BJW vs. CHIKARA (Night 2)
November 20, 2009: Jun Kasai vs. Ryuji Ito – Match of the Year
October 1, 2009: Romeo vs. Juliet

Beyond Wrestlingsize=4>

Originally based out of Northern Ohio, Beyond Wrestling tapes DVDs not in front of live audiences of fans but rather in front of other wrestlers who are seated in furniture that grandma couldn’t get rid of at her last yard sale. The majority of the people who commented on my Beyond Wrestling column thought that it was only a step above backyard wrestling. I disagree, as there appeared to be several wrestlers there who were just a step below being able to make it in PWG or CHIKARA and probably will make it to one of those companies with a bit more experience.

January 2010: We Did It for the Hits
November 2010: Of Bosses & Busters (Part 1)
November 2010: Of Bosses & Busters (Part 2)

DDTsize=4>

Ahhhh, DDT. Founded by Sanshiro Takagi, who still wrestles there to this date, it is the potpourri of the professional wrestling world. You never quite know what you’re going to get out of DDT. They gave the world Kota Ibushi and popularized Kenny Omega and to a lesser extent Munenori Sawa, so they are capable of providing great straight professional wrestling matches. They are also capable of rocking the comedy when they see fit, either through their wrestling blow up doll YOSHIHIKO, everybody’s favorite edgy gay character Danshoku Dino, or their matches in insane locations like iron works and camp sites. It is also arguably the most successful independent group in Japan, as it has a highly entertaining weekly television program and has, for the last three years, sold out the massive Sumo Hall for special shows.

April 3, 2009: Playing soccer in a wrestling ring?
June 18, 2009: Pro Wrestling in a Theme Park
June 28, 2009: Shanshiro Takagi vs. Munenori Sawa
August 23, 2009: Ryogoku Peter Pan (Part 1)
August 23, 2009: Ryogoku Peter Pan (Part 2)
October 25, 2009: Kota Ibushi vs. YOSHIHIKO
2010 Compilation: Takagi & Sawa are fighting champions
May 5, 2010: American Balloon retirement
September 12, 2011: Campsite Pro Wrestling Returns!
July 24, 2011: Ryogoku Peter Pan is back!

EAWsize=4>

Frankly, I don’t know that much about EAW aside from the fact that it’s based out of Mexico. Early on in this column’s history, though, I heard of a promotion that was putting on shows with two rings positioned next to each other, with one being on STILTS. I knew that I had to watch this, and the rest was history.

June 6, 2009: Weird show with RINGS ON STILTS~!

FMWsize=4>

Sometimes, we here at I2I like to go a little old school. When that happens, it is most likely going to involve FMW. FMW, founded by Atsushi Onita in the early 1990’s, is credited with being the group that really set off the independent wrestling movement in Japan. Known for brutal deathmatches, shows which featured multiple styles of wrestling, and dramatic storylines, the company was essentially the forerunner for Paul Heyman’s ECW. FMW also managed to grow an incredible amount over the years, at one point being sponsored by DirecTV and having a series of pay per view events hosted by that service. Unfortunately, the company folded in the early part of this decade due to financial problems which would also lead to its top executive committing suicide.

May 2, 1992: Sixty-six year old man in a barbed wire match? Why not?
February 1993: 600 pound hillbilly vs. Sabu
June 6, 1995: Midget Exploding Barbed Wire Match
1997 Compilation: Shin-FMW
August 25, 1997: Six Man Tag with Ricky Morton
November 23, 1999: Judgment Day pay per view
November 20, 1998: The One Man Gang of all people shows up.
December 22, 1999: Action from Bryan Danielson’s first tour of Japan

FREEDOMSsize=4>

As noted above, FREEDOMS is the successor to the Apache Army, essentially taking AA’s place when many people involved with the company wanted nothing to do with Kentaro Kanemura after he was involved with a scandal in which he allegedly sexually harassed the female president of a wrestling fan club. FREEDOMS shows are virtually indistinguishable from the old Apache Army shows, with the focal points usually being Jun Kasai and other Big Japan wrestlers. I’m not entirely sure why they feel they need another promotion separate from BJW, but here it is.

June 21, 2010: We’re Gonna Win! We’re FREEDOMS!

HUSTLEsize=4>

Originally this company was envisioned as a serious one, essentially the pro wrestling branch of Dream Stage Entertainment, which at the time was making boatloads of money off of its MMA promotion PRIDE. However, it didn’t take long before things started to get wacky. For whatever reason, the group quickly started to adopt a style that it referred to as “Fighting Opera,” creating out of this world storylines and characters, including a man who was the letter “c” come to life and an army of monster wrestlers each one more bizarre than the last. For a period of time, the Fighting Opera was insanely popular, and HUSTLE could have fairly been considered the second largest wrestling promotion in Japan. The group’s fall was as quick as its rise, though, and with the exception of a few key shows from its brief glory period, it was more fairly classified as a well-funded indy group. Ultimately, the decline of HUSTLE resulted in it dying out altogether. The name has since been resurrected, though the new shows are harder to come by and we haven’t seen any of them here yet.

Janury 4, 2004: Goldberg vs. Ogawa, HUSTLE’s first main event.
October 6, 2006: Six person tag with Hamada, Awesome Kong
April 23, 2009: The Glory of Natto Man
April 29, 2009: (^o^)/ Chie Retirement Show
May 4, 2009: Sasuke vs. Kawada
July 7, 2009: Monster Army vs. HUSTLE Elimination Match
August 27, 2009: Shiro Koshinaka 30th Anniversary Match
October 10, 2009: The Final Show

Ice Ribbonsize=4>

Every time that I write about Ice Ribbon, I’m afraid that it sounds a little bit sketchy. You see, the company frequently involves girls as young as twelve or thirteen engaging in professional wrestling matches. It was founded by former joshi star Emi Sakura, who was making ends meet as a gymnastics instructor until her students learned about her pro wrestling past and began requesting that she teach them a bit about the sport. Eventually this lead to the founding of a dojo and then a series of shows at which the students could ply their trade. Though early on the Ice Ribbon shows consisted only of matches held in their school on simple blue mats, recently they have become a full-fledged indy promotion, appearing at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall on a semi-regular basis and drawing in numerous guest stars from larger independent groups. Oh, and you remember the twelve year old wrestlers I mentioned at the top of this paragraph? Believe it or not, a few of them are better than anybody who you’ll see in WWE developmental.

August 23, 2009: Korakuen Hall Debut
May 3, 2010: Golden Ribbon

IWA Japansize=4>

IWA Japan may be the foreign indy that has been the most viewed by American audiences. Why? Because their 1995 Kawasaki Dream show has been bootlegged all over the internet as “King of the Deathmatches.” Yes, it’s the show featuring Terry Funk and Mick Foley tearing each other apart in an exploding ring, land mine, and barbed wire deathmatch. That show was, far and away, the most popular thing that IWA ever did. Though Kawasaki Dream drew thousands of fans to an outdoor stadium, the group’s popularity plummeted not long after. However, they still manage to run shows on a sporadic basis through present day, mainly because they’re financed by a restaurateur who loves professional wrestling and just won’t give up the ghost. Hey, there are worse ways to stay in business. (See TNA.)

November 13, 1994: Terry Funk goes batshit insane in a fire deathmatch.
May 1, 1995: Headhunter vs. Headhunter
October 15, 2004: Kawada slums it.
May 24, 2009: 15th Anniversary Show

Kensuke Officesize=4>

Much like Ice Ribbon is a small independent promotion connected to a dojo, so too is Kensuke Office. However, instead of Emi Sakura as its charismatic leader, the Office is run by former New Japan star Kensuke Sasaki and his wife, joshi legend Akira Hokuto. The Office has produced some great talent like Katsuhiko Nakajima and Kento Miyahara, who are getting exposure in promotions that KO has been affiliated with, such as Pro Wrestling NOAH and Ring of Honor. In addition to that, the Office also runs its own stand-alone shows, which primarily feature Kensuke and his students paired up against indy guys who have mostly come out of the Dragon Gym and occasional guest stars from NOAH.

June 20, 2010: Go Shiozaki vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima

Kaientai Dojosize=4>

It took a surprisingly long time for I2I to review any wrestling action from Kaientai Dojo. As you might suspect from the name, K-Dojo was founded by TAKA Michinoku upon his departure from WWE. The group ran for a brief time in Puerto Rico, but it has been active in Japan since 2002, where TAKA has trained a large number of students, the majority of whom have remained loyal to the company and continue to wrestle for him to this day. There is some very strong talent in K-Dojo, with the top wrestlers now starting to show up in places like All Japan and New Japan’s NEVER shows. Plus, because TAKA Michinoku still wrestles from the company, he’ll get some of his old rivals and partners to come through from time-to-time, so Kaientai Dojo is also usually a great place to go if you’re looking to wax nostalgic about the epic run that Michinoku Pro went on during the 1990’s.

November 19, 2004: TAKA, Togo, and Teioh Reform Classic Kaientai
Gran Naniwa Tribute Show

Michinoku Pro Wrestlingsize=4>

Michinoku Pro was the first independent group that I really got into, thanks in large part to the excellent matches put on during the feud between the stable of Kaientai DX and M-Pro’s babyfaces, who were headed up by the Great Sasuke. Over fifteen years after those matches were taking place, Sasuke and his partner Jensei Shinzaki are still around, though they’ve otherwise got a fairly young roster surrounding them. Nowadays, M-Pro is essentially a repository for wrestlers coming out of Ultimo Dragon’s dragon system, all of whom are talented enough to regularly produce shows well worth watching.

October 26, 1996 – “These Days” featuring M-Pro’s greatest match.
August 20 – September 5, 1999: Masked Man Tournament
August 20 – September 5, 1999: Masked Man Tournament (Part 2)
September 5, 1999: Super Curry MAX
June 19, 2009: Great Sasuke 20th Anniversary Show
September 11, 2007: Sasuke vs. Akebono, mismatch of the century.

SMASH has been one of the most frequently reviewed promotions in the first two years of this column, and one of the focal points of SMASH during that time has been KUSHIDA, the young protégé of Tajiri who has proven to be one hell of a junior heavyweight wrestler. By the time that his SMASH 6 match with New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Tetsuya Naito came around, KUSHIDA had already made several guest appearances in NJPW, including one singles match against Naito in that company. In a bit of reciprocity, Naito set foot in a SMASH ring for the first time to rematch with the company’s young ace, and the result was a very good junior heavyweight encounter. In fact, this match was so good that it, combined with KUSHIDA’s prior runs in NJPW, resulted in him becoming a full-time part of the roster of the largest wrestling promotion in Japan earlier this year.

This is our second match in a row on the countdown that contains some New Japan involvement on the independent level. When NJPW travelled through Okinawa earlier this year, they decided that they were going to bring in six of Okinawa’s finest, teaming three of them up with the legendary Jushin Liger and three of them up with current junior heavyweight star Ryusuke Taguchi. Though it was an undercard bout on NJPW’s show, the match got a surprisingly long amount of time with each and every one of the Okinawans having an opportunity to showcase his strengths. Not a one of them looked out of place among the New Japan stars, and the New Japan wrestlers at no point acted like being in the ring with the independent wrestlers was beneath them. The aforementioned Menso-re Oyaji looked particularly good, with his performance here being a large part of why he made our listing of the Top 5 Wrestlers of Year 2.

Sometimes a match stands out because it’s a shining example of a genre that you see all the time. Sometimes, a match stands out because it’s of a genre that you’re not necessarily expecting to see. In this particular case, the match stood out for the latter reason. When SMASH bookerman Tajiri locked it up with Canadian-Finnish wrestler Starbuck in the top match of SMASH 10, there was certainly some Japanese professional wrestling influence. However, the match was far more heavily influenced by North American style wrestling, particularly something that you might expect to see coming out of a southern arena in the 1980’s. SMASH had done a great job leading into the match of building Starbuck up as an absolute monster, somebody who felt next to no pain and who could pin an opponent with one finger after hitting his devastating piledriver. This build, combined with Tajiri’s prior losses to ‘Buck, resulted in a super-intense atmosphere that really carried the match despite the fact that it didn’t necessarily contain the most cutting-edge wrestling offense.

When I started writing this week’s column, I didn’t mean for it to turn into an Oyaji lovefest, but it seems to quickly be headed that way after profiling him in our list of Top 5 Wrestlers and giving him some more kudos in including the Okinawa/New Japan tag match earlier on this list. However, it’s not as though the guy didn’t do anything to earn the credit. This match against Shisaou from January was for Okinawa Pro’s main singles championship, and the relatively inexperienced Oyaji did a great job of putting together a championship caliber singles match. Of course, he was helped greatly be Shisaou who, despite having a relatively new gimmick in Okinawa, is actually a pro wrestling veteran who is coming up on fifteen years of experience. The two had a fine little encounter, with Oyaji playing the underdog and the larger Shisaou dominating him, with Oyaji coming within inches of pinning the champion and taking his title before Shisaou finally managed to overwhelm the little guy. It is matches like this that keep me coming back to Okinawa Pro every chance I get.

This match caught me by surprise. Don’t get me wrong, I was familiar with all four of the wrestlers involved going into it, and I was aware that they all have the talent necessary to put on an entertaining little piece of business. However, the match wasn’t exactly the focal point of the card that it appeared on and none of the men were in a promotion for which they regularly compete, so I figured that they would either be taking it easy or that they wouldn’t have the time available to them to put on an absolutely top flight match. However, as soon as the bell rang, I was proven wrong, as all four of the wrestlers had their working shoes on and built a very solid tag team encounter. Tanaka in particular has been on fire as of late despite getting up there in years, and he did a great job in motivating Tajiri and helping him show no signs of the reputation for slowing things down he’s developed ever since returning from WWE. This is a pretty obscure match even by the standards of this column, but I have a feeling that, if you track it down, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Seven days! That’s how long you have to wait to find out what the five matches are that top this list.

Yes, folks, in order to help me celebrate by big anniversary, I recruited some of my fellow 411 staffers who aren’t quite as familiar with the Japanese independents in order to get their take on some of the wrestling that I normally view. This week, it’s Chad Nevett taking a look at an unorthodox comedy match and video reviewer Jack Bramma getting his first taste of BattlArts! Let’s see what happens when Chad and Jack head Into the Indies . . .

Match Numero Uno: Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Ken Ohka in a Bread Eating Deathmatch (Union Pro, 01/03/2011)
by Chad Nevett

I had asked Ryan for a comedy match this year, because, from what I understand, Japan has a nice tradition of comedy-based wrestling. I know that Dragon Gate has a title devoted to it and I wanted to see what these matches would be like. For that purpose, I don’t think this match really satisfied what I was looking for. When I saw what type of match it was, I laughed. A ‘bread eating death match?’ That’s insane! Is it a case of one or both of the participants celiacs? Will the bread actually kill them?

Those answers never really came. The long intro video gave some hints at what was going on with Ken Ohka in the hospital for… some reason. Look, I don’t speak Japanese and that seemed to be the biggest stumbling block here. So much of the storytelling came in that intro package and, then, in the match, a lot of the jokes were verbal ones shouted by the wrestlers. Without the language, this match fell completely flat. There were a few amusing moments in the absurdity of both men trying to eat bread suspended from a metal bar by string. That novelty wears off quickly, especially as the rules for the match remained a mystery throughout. They seemed unable to use their hands at first, but, later, they used their hands to grab the bread and eat it. Not much wrestling was involved, only the odd move here and there. I liked the initial spot featuring the milk where Ken Ohka stole it from Tsuyoshi Kikuchi.

When the match ended, I had no idea why. Both men had eaten bread and, yet, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi won. Why? No idea! I can’t really say if this was a ‘good’ comedy match or not. I don’t feel qualified to really say since I didn’t understand the fundamental rules of the match. With such a strong basis in the language, maybe comedy matches don’t translate well like regular Japanese wrestling. I was curious before, but, now, I do want to investigate a little, if only to see if it was a case of this match being too rooted in knowing the language or if that’s all Japanese comedy matches. I mean, try to imagine guys like Santino and Eric Young if you didn’t understand what they were saying. Would they still be funny or would they be guys you know are supposed to be funny, but you don’t know because you can’t understand them? You don’t even understand the context necessarily… I do have a feeling that if I knew the basis for this match and the rules, I probably would have enjoyed it more. I guess the only thing to do is learn Japanese…

Match Numero Dos: Munenori Sawa & Keita Yano vs. Katsumi Usuda & Kyosuke Sasaki (BattlArts, 10/26/2010)
by Jack Bramma

This is my first contribution to the IndyVersary. My indie knowledge is pretty limited to some ROH, PWG, Chikara, NOAH, DGUSA, and local stuff near where I live, so hardly extensive. That being said, I love discovering or being exposed to all different kinds of wrestling, especially if it’s good.

I asked Ryan for “something technical, mat wrestling, psychology, etc.” or “maybe a very intense street fight.” He suggested Katsumi Usudda & Kyosuke Sasaki vs. Munenori Sawa & Keita Yano from the BattlArts promotion in Japan. It’s almost entirely mat-wrestling and has ZERO pinfall attempts that I could see and has no commentary, so it’s quite the change of pace if this isn’t your style. Here’s my review.

This is from BattlArts on 10/24/10. Usuda is in Carolina blue and Sasaki is in blue and red trunks. Sawa is in black and green trunks and Yano is in a blue body suit. Usuda and Sawa to start. Sawa offers a shake but Usuda is suspicious. He decides to go for the shake but then smacks at the exact same time as Sawa. Awesome. They roll through a couple of pinfalls that go nowhere. Usuda goes for an armbar but Sawa stacks him up and goes for a waistlock. They jockey for position and Sawa gets the hammerlock. Usuda tries rolling through but Sawa grabs a reverse nelson. He goes to punch Usuda who begs off. They block a few kick attempts until Usuda grabs a wristlock. Yano tags in but Usuda and Sawa keep arguing about who gets to give the not so clean break. Sawa smacks him and Usuda tries to kick him back but no go. They both blame each other to the ref like students trying to avoid detention. Yano and Usuda now. They jockey for position and Yano claims that Usuda needs to get the pomade out of his hair as his wipes his hands on the mat. They go go for a waistlock and Yano rolls through with a headlock. Usuda counters to a hammerlock and his own headlock. Yano gets the armbar. Usuda drags himself to the heel corner for some reason and boots Sawa while still in the hold. Usuda counters and flips Yano over. ECW STANDOFF! Sasaki in with Yano. Yano blocks some kicks but Sasaki shoots for a single and goes into half guard and then full mount. Sasaki goes for a choke but Yano grabs the heel hook the counter. Niceeee. Yano floats over into a headlock but Sasaki gets the headscissors. Yano tries kipping out but then has to neckbridges out and go to an Indian Headlock and then roll it over. BEAST! Sasaki escapes by getting a hammerlock. Yano goes for the armbar so Sasaki stacks him up and goes to the Banana Split! Yano gets the ropes. This is some beautiful chain, mat wrestling. Usuda tags in and smacks the shit out of Yano. They slug it out and Sawa tags back in. Sawa goes to the kicks on Usuda and hits a strike combo. He goes to the sleeper but Usuda gets the ropes. The ref walks off to stop Sasaki so the heels can work him over in the ropes. Usuda tries coming back with a snapmare but Sawa blocks.

He finally does it and gives him the DR FG but Sawa laughs it off as nothing and the crowd pops. Usuda decides it’s time to MAN UP! He tells Sawa to take his best shot and gives him a freebie. Sawa winds up and boots the hell out of him a couple times and Usuda no sells. They both get to their feet and smack it out. Usuda brings him over to the face corner and tags in Sasaki. They both no sells headbutts and see who’s more Samoan. Sawa tries another with a laugh from the crowd but Sasaki gets the armbar TD. Crowd pops for the misdirection but Yano is in to break it up. Usuda is in to shitcan him. Sawa rolls under and goes for an elbow but comes up dry and Sasaki goes right back to the Fujiwara armbar. Sawa rolls under and escapes. He knocks Usuda off the face corner. They counter a few pinning combinations with Sasaki finally goes to the RNC with the bodylock. Usuda boots him from the face counter just to be a dick. Saski must be a noob at BJJ because he crosses his feet in the body triangle and of course Sawa uses his pressure against him and easily hooks in a half crab using his head. Sasaki gets the armbar to counter that and Sawa is forced to get the ropes. Sawa comes back with some rights and tags in Yano. Yano grinds the boot into Sasaki’s face and then hits a Euro uppercut. Sasaki comes back and tags in Usuda. Usuda tosses Yano and tells Sawa to BRING IT MOTHERFUCKER! Sawa in and they smack it out and then DOUBLE HULK UP! Usuda headbutts him into the corner and goes for a charge but Yano goes for a roll up only for Usuda to roll under and hook in the ANKLELOCK! Sawa gets the ropes but Usuda is all FUCK THAT and drags him back to the middle. Usuda goes back to the Banana Split and then rolls under back to the anklelock. Sawa rolls out and gets the triangle choke/armbar. They get to their feet. Usuda shakes off a couple of kicks and catches the third one and gives Sawa some Necro right hands. Usuda hooks in the ab stretch and grinds it with an elbow until Sawa immediately counters to his own. Sasaki laughs at his ignorance for trying a submission near the face corner as he walks in and enzuigiris flat. Usuda hooks in a triangle choke but Yano breaks it up with a basement dropkick. They are both exhausted but slug it out. Sawa with the haymaker but Usuda comes back with a enzuigiri. Usuda tries one now but Sawa gets the enzuigiri. Usuda comes back with ANOTHER enzuigiri but Sawa no sells and hits the leg lariat. Sasaki and Yano in. Sasaki gets a running knee and the front facelock and then hits the hangman’s neckbreaker. Sasaki with a series of kicks but Yano counters to the atomic drop backbreaker. He tunes up the band and goes for a clothesline but Sasaki gets the armbar TD and goes to the Fujiwara. Usuda holds off Sawa but Yano drags him an makes the ropes. Sasaki hits a series of kicks and goes for a mule kick but Yano ducks. Sasaki kicks him from the ground and then Yano drops into the triangle choke. AWESOME!

Sawa boots the shit out of him to break it up. Sasaki hits a couple of headbutts but Yano no sells. Sasaki with another headbutt and Yano finally goes down. I guess that headbutt is kinda like chops, ROARINGELBOWS, or yakuza kicks as the go-to man up spot. Sasaki kicks him stiff as hell twice and then gives him an enzuigiri. He goes down in a heap and the ref starts the count. He makes it to his feet at 8. Sasaki is PISSED and kicks him around again until Yano no sells and comes back with a LARIATO! Yano gives him a European uppercut and some headbutts to the gut. Sasaki goes to the guillotine but Yano armdrags him to escape and then hooks in the arm triangle. Yano then beasts it over with the neckbridge. Sawa comes running in and springboards off his partner to take out the intruding Usuda and the crowd pops for that. Usuda recovers and breaks it up even with Sawa grapeviing his leg. The heels double team but Sasaki tries to hook in an ab stretch on Yano. Yano fights it off and hooks in his own. Nice. Sawa goes off the ropes for the yakuza kick but Sasaki counters to his own and Yano eats the kick. YES! The heels shake it off and hit a double dropkick. Yano goes back to the ab stretch. They roll through it about 4 times before Yano hooks on some crazy heel hook. Usuda is in but Sawa is holding him off with kicks. Yano finallly releases the hold. Sasaki rolls him under and hooks in the AnkleLock and grapevines the leg! Yano still won’t give up so he FIGURE FOURS THE OPPOSITE LEG AND YANO TAPS AT 20:19! This is just great, wall-to-wall mat wrestling. Dean Malenko would be proud. I wasn’t entirely sure of the rules but I got the hang of it once they weren’t going for pinfalls at all. This is much more similar to MMA psychology than pro wrestling psychology in that you get the sense they are trying to end the fight at any time, rather than target a limb for storytelling. I loved it either way. ****

The Guest (High) Spots continue next week, when two MYSTERY GUESTS head Into the Indies~!

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