MOVING ON 2^ND

June 6, 1991

Tom Burton . . . goes from the penthouse to the outhouse, by moving from the main event to the opening match, with similar results.

Kazuo Yamazaki . . . takes Yuko Miyato to the proverbial woodshed to avenge his loss the month before.

Tatsuo Nakano . . . gets his nose busted open for the umpteenth time but still enacts some of his own revenge from the debut show tag match.

KIYOSHI TAMURA vs. TOM BURTON

The work here isn’t anything great, which isn’t a surprise considering Tamura’s inexperience, but it’s fun to see UWFI start to flesh out the hierarchy of the roster. Burton may have the size advantage, but between his speed and mat skills, Tamura is able to offset that. Burton uses his size to knock off a few points, he’s able to connect a couple of throws and a big lariat and use Tamura’s stunned state to get a couple of holds on and make him use the ropes. But Tamura is fast enough and smart enough to lock in something when Burton isn’t expecting it, which is what happens when Burton’s takedown into a Fujiwara armbar gets countered into a juji-gatame, and the big man submits. It’s no surprise that Burton was no match for Takada, but this match, both the actual work as well as the result, showed that being a big burly American only goes so far in this company, and that just because someone is young and hasn’t even had ten matches at this point, doesn’t automatically put them at the bottom of the food chain.

KAZUO YAMAZAKI vs. YUKO MIYATO

The intensity and the way that the match plays out makes for a fun continuation from their tag match on the previous card. Hopefully Miyato enjoyed himself on that night, because he answers for it here. Miyato once again tries to target Yamazaki’s midsection, but outside of a couple of lucky kicks, he doesn’t have much success, and outside of the strikes he connects with, he has almost no success. Miyato lands a couple of kicks to the ribs that cause Yamazaki to be called down, but when he tries to capitalize with a chickenwing armlock, Yamazaki easily outwrestles him and turns it into an armbar that forces Miyato to use the ropes. A bit later, Miyato manages to secure an armlock after Yamazaki connects a German suplex, but once again, Yamazaki has no problem wrestling his way free of the hold. Miyato’s only other success comes when he hits a kick to the head (picture a grounded enzuigiri) to escape a kneebar. Yamazaki shows that he can trim Miyato’s points with submissions and throws but his favorite weapons are his kicks, and after hitting some of the nastiest leg kicks that you’ll ever see, he drains the rest of Miyato’s points. Yamazaki doesn’t even give him the mercy of a knockout finish; he makes Miyato feel every bit of it. If anything, the fact that Miyato doesn’t go down instantly when Yamazaki starts firing away with those kicks is a testament to how tough he is.

YOJI ANJO vs. TATSUO NAKANO

This is similar to the Yamazaki/Miyato match in that the animosity from the previous tag match carries over into it, but what separates it from the Yamazaki match is that it’s contested much more evenly, which is both good and bad. What keeps it from being very good is that Nakano isn’t stellar on the mat, so that causes the mat portions to drag. However, the genius of the UWFI style and rules is that it allows the wrestlers to play more to their strengths. So, why bore the fans with long mat segments when Anjo and Nakano can just stiff each other and get a reaction? It starts with Anjo punching Nakano in the kidneys to break a grounded headlock and Nakano retaliates with mounted elbows, and they don’t get any less hateful from there. And, it’s not a Tatsuo Nakano match without him getting a bloody nose, which comes when Anjo hits a knee to the face. The finish is a bit ironic; Anjo is the better mat worker, but he finds himself forced to submit to a headlock of all things. The only area that Nakano had any sort of edge was throws, and it was a throw that allowed him to get Anjo in the headlock. There isn’t much to the actual wrestling here, but the hatred, stiffness, and the thought put into the finish is enough to make it a fun experience.

NOBUHIKO TAKADA vs. J.T. SOUTHERN

The only possible explanation for this match is that Takada, Maeda, and Fujiwara had a wager on which of them could book the most ridiculous foreigner and Maeda claimed victory with Bill Kazmaier, so this was Takada’s response. Southern isn’t completely lost out there, his block and escape of Takada’s juji-gatame was unexpected, and he surprises Takada with a sleeper complete with body scissors to prevent Takada from easily making the ropes, forcing him to wrestle his way out of the hold. However, Southern is no match for Takada, and once he gets out of the sleeper, Takada decides to straighten up and finish the match quickly. After nearly winning by KO when Southern didn’t understand that simply getting to his feet wasn’t enough to break the count, Takada quickly takes him back down and taps him with an armbar.

Conclusion: The only thing that’s really skippable here is the main event, and even that’s not terrible. Between Tamura’s continued prodigiousness and the stiffness and hate in the middle of the card, there’s a lot of fun to be had.