Hoshikawa, Yakushiji & Tsubasa vs Togo, Buffalo & QUALLT, Osaka Pro 11/6/00

Man, Hoshi and Yakushiji are just inseparable. Dick Togo is back as the thorn in their side again and he’s rockin’ the Grunge gear he found in America (when not attempting to chop off the Big Valbowski). Trivia Note: Daio QUALLT is the mist spewing robotic alter-ego of our friend Masaru Seno that we were introduced to in the last match. I preferred him as Seno but whatever.

So this was a change of pace from the prior two matches. Quite literally in fact, as this was filled more with high speed run-the-ropes lucharesu than prolonged rudo beatdowns. The was one exchange between Hoshi and Togo which was so smooth and so fast that I rewound it about five times. It was beautiful.

Loads of cool back and forth stuff down the stretch such as Yakushiji and Hoshikawa hitting their German Suplex/Missile Dropkick combo perfectly. Black Buffallo was dishing out the running lariats from all angles as he is wont to do, Dick hit his picture perfect senton and QUALLT…… blew mist. It wasn’t enough though as the faces rallied to get the duke when Hoshi pinned B-Buff with a German Suplex. If you like Dragon Gate you’ll LOVE this match. ****1/4

Hoshikawa vs Hidaka, Zero-One 7/12/01

A match between two men who took different but very similar roads to this point in their careers. Hoshi broke in with Michinoku Pro and moon-lighted in BattlARTS before going to Osaka Pro and then to Zero 1. Hidaka broke in with BattlARTS, had a stint in ECW, then became a freelancer mainly working Michinoku Pro and eventually ended up as a Zero 1 regular. Oh and he still had his goofy 90′s haircut here. Hoshi of course was rocking his trademark Mafia Druglord slicked back hair, which screams bad ass.

And yeah if you haven’t guessed by the fact that I’m discussing hairstyles – there’s not too much to say about the actual match here. That’s not to say it wasn’t good, because it was DAMN good, but it was just two awesome guys doing awesome technical wrestling and you just kind of sit back and bask in the glory of it as opposed to writing a page of notes disecting it. So yeah we got reversals, we got counters, we got some of the prettiest chain wrestling you’ll see, we got some of the ROUGHEST strikes you will see (Hoshi upped the stiffness factor bigtime at the turn of the century) and we got a couple of sweet dives with Hoshikawa hitting his missile topé and Hidaka hitting a nice twisting plancha.

However the best thing about this match came near the end as Hoshikawa, who had his leg ripped off by Hidaka sprinkled some majestic selling onto proceedings. He hit his trademark top rope enziguiri and was unable to follow up because of the impact on his leg. Then he hit his German Suplex but couldn’t hold the bridge. Awesome! After shutting down a Hidaka fight-back, Hoshi kicked him square in the face and hit another German THIS TIME WITH A ONE-LEGGED BRIDGE!!!!!!!!! to get the win.

Great match, and we’re now four out of four for ****+ matches.

****1/4

This is from Tuesday night’s show in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Alexander Kotlobay (18-1-1) and Enzo Maccarinelli (31-4) do battle for the vacant European Cruiserweight title. Maccarinelli was formerly the WBO world champion until getting obliterated by David Haye back in 2008. He then had a difficult 2009 suffering a further two losses, but has since rebounded with a couple of confidence building victories over lesser competition. A win here moves him back into cruiserweight contention, a loss would spell the end.

- Kessler was very humble when asked about the fight. He put over Froch huge; complimenting his heart and resiliency. He then credited his team for coming up with the right strategy for this bout.

-Froch said he was disappointed with his performance, but felt that he might have won had it been in his home. He called Kessler a strong warrior.

-Froch said he would be back. Everyone in the press area were very supportive, and applauded him. I think he earned a lot of respect by the way he carried himself both in and out of the ring this week.

- Sauerland dubbed it the fight of the year, and said that it was proof that the Viking Warrior is back.
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Team Ortiz is upset at Yager for cheering on his friend Tavares, who is on the opposition.

He, Tavares, Kris McCray, and Kyle Noke put themselves in a group called The Minority Report. Just wait until one of them has to fight one another.

Chuck picks Rich to fight Kyacey. Kyacey is the most veteran fighter of the entire crop of guys.

Kyacey is going to be a father and the child will be born before the season is over.

Rich Attonito has about 15 nicknames. John Hackelman says that Rich could be number one on the whole show. Chuck can’t be there for the fight.

Kyacey thought Yager took his sweat shirt, but it wasn’t him, yet he still blamed him for it. Yager is so easy to hate, but it wasn’t really his fault. He didn’t do the crime. Sam Hager thinks it’s bullshit.

I hope they’re showing this to us because these guys eventually fight down the line. If not, it’s kind of a waste.

Rich Attonito vs. Kyacey Uscola

Wow, what a first round. Uscola was dropped and then dumped on his head. But he finally got control, but then kneed Attonito twice while he had one knee down. Attonito looked out. Uscola was disqualified. He was livid.

Winner: Rich Attonito by disqualification

Kyacey was calling for Rich to get up and fight. He said he wanted to see the replay because it was his life.

Tito decided to take it to the door. He gave the poor door a Macho Man Randy Savage double axe-handle.

Rich broke his hand in the fight and won’t be able to fight again.

Since Team Liddell has control, Chuck picks Jamie Yager to fight his boy Charlie Blanchard. Yager is only about 5 inches taller than Blanchard. Of course, just like every other time, Tito likes the match-up.

Yager says that once you get past the facade, he’s a real genuine person. Tito says he came from nothing so he’s always defensive. Tito says he did too. No wonder they’re both assholes.

This has to be a short fight because the show is almost over.

Charlie Blanchard vs. Jamie Yager
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M-Pro 1999.1.10 Crazy Max (Shiima Nobunaga, Judo Suwa, Sumo Fujii) vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa, Masato Yakushiji, Masaru Seno

So nothing’s topping yesterday’s match right? … right?

RIGHT?

Nope, WRONG! This topped it. Or at the very least, equalled it. It’s two years later and Hoshi is still battling a band of no-good thugs only this time they’re younger, hungrier and jerkier! Out with Kaientai DX, in with Craaaaaazy Max!

Yakushiji is once again by Hoshikawa’s side and this time they’re joined by a man I’ve never seen before – Masaru Seno, a fresh faced youngster bedecked in plain black tights. From the outset CIMA and pals are just heeling it up like nobody’s business. A couple of minutes in and I got proof of God’s existence as Naohiro Hoshikawa and Judo Suwa were in a ring together. It was as awesome as you’d expect. Hoshi was significantly more threatening in 1999 than he was in 1997.

The bulk of the match was C-Max destroying Seno and Yakushiji and it was a joy to behold, but it was nothing that you were going to lose your mind over. However once Hoshi got the hot tag – boy oh boy, you lost your mind. And this wasn’t like losing your keys and finding them down the side of your couch, this was losing your keys and having them fall down into the sewer and swallowed by a rat. So anyway Hoshikawa was kicking a load of Ultimo Dragon lovin’, Worldwide jobbin’ ass and the people were loving it. The babyfaces delivered a combo cooler than the KDX murderising from yesterday as Yakushiji hit a perfect Dragonsteiner, Hoshi hit his flying enzigiuri and Seno (who was the most sympathetic babyface ever by this point) hit a HYOOGE lariat. It got a ridiculous nearfall.

Speaking of nearfalls, we then got alot of them down the stretch and I was jumping up and down for every single one. Crowd was going mental. Throw in a nutty dive by CIMA too for good measure and yeah this was rockin’. Unlike yesterday’s match the finish of this was PERFECT as SUWA finally manages to put down the valiant Seno.

****3/4 again! YOU WANT THIS PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING MATCH.

Even the most cynical MMA fan would agree that the first ever WEC PPV was a slam dunk success. After so many putrid MMA shows of late, this thing delivered, and it delivered hard.

You’re going to see nothing but love from the FGB crew in our feedback about this show.

Duan
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Best Fight: Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung
Worst Fight: Donald Cerrone vs. Ben Henderson
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