1. Osamu Kido vs. Ultimo Dragon (5 minute exhibition)
O….K. This was cool. I dunno, I’m dshaking my head. Exhibition match. Ended with Ultimo caught in a crowbar. *
2. Yuki Ishikawa vs. Hiroyuki Ito
Ito comes out aggressive with some nice kicks, then they hit the mat and Yuki slaps on a leg vine and I can see how unless you have it on right, it won’t always mean instant submission. Then they get into trading some crucifix armbars and I don’t understand how that isn’t an instant tap out. Again, like I have stated before, it watches like MMA training as opposed to a real fight. Ito gets behind Yuki for a rear naked choke, still no tap out, nor an exaggerated response by Yuki to a possible choke out. Back to a crucifix arm bar by Ito. See? If you stick someone with a possible choke out, you don’t let it go for an arm bar. More fluidity from one move to the other would help alot. More, “out of nowhere!” type moves, submission, etc. would improve the matches. I still liked this alot, except there are too many holes in it for me to love it. **
3. Don Arakawa vs. Munenori Sawa
Comedy match. Why? I dunno, cuz sawa doesn’t come off as a comedy guy. In fact, he flubbed tons of stuff in trying to work this abortion of a match. And why is Don winning against a young stud like Sawa? 1/2*
4. Alex Karaev vs. Katsumi Usuda
Holy crap, Karaev is HUGE! Holy crap, this match sucked. the guy has the mobility of road kill. Impressive size… nice try by Usuda… this just doesn’t ring out BML to me. It doesn’t say shoot-style. It says freak show, comedy hour. 1/2 *
5. Enson Inoue vs. Manabu Hara
Give this match 5-7 more minutes and you have a nice example of a great match of this style. **1/2
6. Kensuke Sasaki & Kazunari Murakami vs. Fujiwara & Minoru Suzuki .
This match made me laugh out loud. It was hilarious and everyone played their parts great. Yoshiaki Fujiwara, God knows how old he is, can go better then any WWE mid-carder. Suzuki is a great personality and a great wrestler and brawler. Murakami looks like he takes an actual beating in this match from the diabolical duo of Fujiwara and Suzuki. Kensuke comes in to clean some house and Murakami proves himself here with some of the best running headbutts I’ve ever seen. ****
7. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima
Solid, well exceuted, good reversals, lotsa striking… too much striking but then they deviated in the end to some more baic offense. They are at the top of the game but you watch them and it almost looks effortless. Shibata is just too versed in the submissions in the end for Nakajima, who still put up one hell of a fight. ***
