U-STYLE ON SAMURAI TV

Taped 2/15/03

Manabu Hara . . . wins by committing murder-by-suplex with a German suplex so nasty that it would have made Gary Albright proud.

Kyosuke Sasaki . . . is able to take away the one title that Kensuke thought he could never lose, the best wrestler with the name “Sasaki.”

Wataru Sakata . . . does everything possible to ensure that he doesn’t go down in history as the first sacrificial lamb of Ace Tamura.

KATSUHISA FUJII vs. RYU ECHIGO

This is over before it even starts. Echigo tries to project stoicism, but his facials give away his nerves. Meanwhile, Fujii has a sneer on his face from the moment he comes through the curtain, as though he feels insulted that Tamura put him in the opening match. Fujii thoroughly dominates Echigo in all three phases; strikes, submissions, and throws, and taps him out inside of two minutes with a kimura.

NAOKI KIMURA vs. MANABU HARA

The main thing to see here is the finish, but it’s worth watching the seven or so minutes before then to see the story play out and lead up to the payoff. Kimura has the edge when it comes to the mat, he takes two points away from Hara, and Hara only takes one away from him. Hara also has to fight a lot harder than Kimura to get a hold locked in, and his holds generally aren’t locked in as well as Kimura’s. They get back to their feet and Hara gets behind Kimura and gives him one of the nastiest German suplexes that you’ll ever see, and while it doesn’t KO him, it stuns Kimura enough for Hara to lock in a sleeper with body scissors and force him to submit. Much like Fujii dominating in all three phases of shootstyle, Hara wins by being a more well-rounded competitor. Kimura may have been the better grappler, but that didn’t matter once Hara dumped him on his head.

YASUHITO NAMEKAWA vs. KYOSUKE SASAKI

Watching Sasaki is a lot like watching Tamura early in his career. He moves very fluidly, and he shows a knack for locking in holds in a flashy manner. But being young and inexperienced, he’s prone to careless mistakes, which ultimately causes him to go from being ahead on points to losing the match. In comparison, Namekawa almost comes across as one-dimensional, but he shows himself to be a perfectly competent wrestler. He also adds a few heelish touches to give the match an unpredictable feel. One of his better moments was catching a kick from Sasaki and taking him over with a dragon screw that looks awkward in a good way. He also reacts to Sasaki forcing him to use a rope break by getting up and pelting him with palm strikes. He isn‘t in the league with Anjo or Suzuki, but it’s still nice to see. There are a few odd moments to this as well. On two separate occasions, Namekawa will find a way to use his size and strength to his advantage to take Sasaki down with a decent sized bump, but Sasaki doesn’t do much to sell either of them. The first one is excusable, since it was so early in the match, but after the second one, Sasaki immediately wants to take Namekawa to the mat with him. Seeing as we just saw the German suplex get used as the great extinguisher, it would have been nice to see the bump have more of an effect on Sasaki. The finish they work is pretty much flawless. Sasaki shoots in to try to take Namekawa down, but does it too close to the ropes. The bigger man falls on top of Sasaki right into position for a crucifix hold. Namekawa wrenches Sasaki’s neck and forces him to submit. This wasn’t great or anything, but it was a lot of fun, and despite losing the match, Sasaki comes out of this looking like someone to keep an eye on.

RYUKI UEYAMA vs. HIROYUKI ITO

The opening sequence of both men exchanging holds, strikes, and counters gives the impression that this is going to be a fast-paced and competitive match. But Ito folds like an accordion afterwards and the match is basically a squash for Ueyama. You know exactly how far over his head Ito really is when he gets a surprise takedown on Ueyama and his first instinct is to cover up to avoid palm strikes rather than trying to do something to win the match. Ueyama has the same fluid movements as Sasaki and looks to be even more crafty, and less prone to errors (although Ito probably made it easier for him to avoid that particular issue). Ueyama isn’t as successful on his feet, but he’s good enough to avoid taking much damage, and the fact that Ito connecting on a simple palm strike seems like a big accomplishment for him perfectly illustrates the disparity between them. Ito gets a couple of attempts to lock in submissions, although neither one goes anywhere. He tries to surprise Ueyama by rolling into an ankle lock, but doesn’t lock the hold in well at all, and Ueyama simply wrenches on Ito’s leg a bit to send him scurrying to the ropes. Ueyama easily blocks Ito’s attempt at a juji-gatame and maneuvers himself into a mount, he pelts Ito with palm strikes and smoothly rolls over into the same ankle lock that Ito tried earlier for a lightning quick tap out. The biggest takeaway from this isn’t the huge mismatch, but rather the sense of intrigue about both men. Is this typical from Ito, or did he get injured and/or blown up after that first exchange? Is Ueyama another name to watch out for, or did he simply look better because of his opponent being so flawed?

TAKEHIRO MURAHAMA vs. KAZUKI OKUBO

Murahama’s flashiness and his pro-style antics certainly helped the match stand out, which considering that Okubo looked like he was plunked out of the dojo and booked at the last minute, isn’t a bad thing. Okubo has a decent size advantage and evidently has no idea of how to use it. It’s easy to spot him letting go of his holds so that Murahama can do his reversals or escapes, and he generally just doesn’t look comfortable working on the mat. Murahama teases hitting the ropes to wake up the crowd and even throws a dropkick, and he’s good about using his speed to keep the bigger man moving. Okubo’s best moment comes right after Murahama quickly takes two points off using his kicks, Okubo catches another kick and puts on an ankle lock, which Murahama sells closer to what you’d expect to see from Kurt Angle’s version of the hold. Murahama follows up with some pro-style psych by continuing to sell the leg after the rope break and giving Okubo a chance to hit a few kicks to the leg. Murahama wins by surprising Okubo with a German suplex to set up the juji-gatame. It’s a fine finish, with Murahama outsmarting Okubo when he thought he had a real advantage, but it doesn’t work as well here as it did for Hara and Kimura. It’s a fun match overall, but that’s more due to Murahama being entertaining than the work being all that engrossing.

KIYOSHI TAMURA vs. WATARU SAKATA

It’s no surprise that this is the best match on the card, not just because of Tamura, but because nobody else on the undercard had much (if any) experience working these sorts of matches. The match itself is well-worked but is lacking in drama. It’s nice that Tamura doesn’t go out there and squash Sakata, but with how easily Ito and Okubo were dispatched in their matches, it seems odd that Tamura had as much trouble with Sakata as he did. The really weird thing is the way that the single leg crab is treated. Tamura whips it out twice, the first time to a huge reaction (which shows that the crowd knew a thing or two about UWF), and both times Sakata easily counters into a more ‘legitimate’ submission, one of which causes Tamura to use a rope break. If the idea is to show that U-STYLE is evolving shootstyle, and what worked in 1988 isn’t going to cut it in 2003, that’s fine, but the Tamura match doesn’t seem like it’s the best way to establish that. It’d have been just as easy for Okubo or Ito to use it in their matches and have Ueyama or Murahama pull out the counter. With the undercard guys sticking with the more ‘modern’ shootstyle work, it’s odd that Tamura seems to be the one stuck in the past and needing to learn about living in the now.

The match does a decent job of showing that Sakata seems to be, at least somewhat, close to the level of Tamura (relative to the rest of the roster at least). Tamura and Sakata each only take off two points, but they’re smart about how they go about doing it. Sakata uses the crab hold counter and catches an errant kick to force Tamura to use rope breaks. Sakata tries the same rolling ankle lock that won for Ueyama, but Tamura easily blocks it and counters into a juji-gatame. When Sakata gets knocked down from a strike flurry, he gets back up and starts swinging. It’s only the finish that really hammers home that Tamura is the undisputed Ace of the promotion. Tamura pelts Sakata with palm strikes and Sakata shoots in for a takedown, but that’s exactly what Tamura expected and wanted from him. Tamura easily rolls over into a guillotine choke and once it’s cinched in, Sakata has no choice but to tap out. Again, this is easily the best, and most competitive, match on the card. The only thing that even comes close to being this competitive is Kimura/Hara and these two are miles ahead of them as far as their work goes. It’s a good match as far as execution and structure goes, it’s only the finish and the overall direction of the match that seem to be a bit erratic.

Conclusion: This is a fun enough way to kick off the U-STYLE era. Every match has something about it that makes it worth checking out, and it does its job creating a sense of excitement and intrigue about the next show.