UWF 4/15/90

Bart Vale v. Shiego Miyato

PAS: Surprisingly good, Vale who really has a great pre Neiman Marcus Todd Palin look to him, didn’t really get good until 1992, and I haven’t found a time period in which I like Miyato. Still they kind of worked well together, Vale whiffed on some kicks, but some landed and his punches looked good and they had some really great fast exchanges. Plus you have to love any shoot match which ends in a Razor’s Edge into a Camel Clutch and have it look reasonable.

TKG: The three knock downs were all neat and the whole finish run with Vale reversing the arm drag into a choke reversed into an ankle pick was really hot. Vale who is normally super protected was working pretty even with Miyato. Miyato is usually a really dull undercarder working really basic heatless stuff but here he is in a hot match with the crowd was popping for him like this was Kikuchi in his home town.

Masakatsu Funaki v. Minoru Suzuki

TKG: This was odd but really neat. Gary Shaw told these guys to keep it on the mat and there was no stand up. Just lots and lots of leg laces and leg holds. Leg scissor takedown variations, body scissors variations, figure four attempts, leg lace reversal attempts, defensive leg laces, leg laces used to roll opponent over etc. Another two minutes of this and it would have gotten too exhibitiony.

PAS: I could have sworn that we saw this match up a bunch in PWFG, although we didn’t. In PWFG these guys were positioned in the Takada/Yamazaki role of young pretty up and comers, and I was expecting them to work a Takada v. Yamazaki match, so I was pleasantly surprised to see them work all leg locks. Not very substantial, but I enjoyed it more then the match ups I had false memories of.

Akira Maeda v. Tatsuo Nakano

PAS: Nakano was totally awesome in this match, the crowd is going apeshit chanting his name and he is cheap shotting the fuck out of Meada, hedbutting him on the break, constantly kicking and kneeing him in the back of his head, totally leaving it in the ring against the king of the mountain. But man fuck a Maeda, he completely sleepwalks through this, Nakano is working his ass off, but Maeda never really sold, never really seemed to get angry when he got cheap shotted, never seemed to worry when he was knocked down. Totally sandbagged the match, which is two shows in a row, he worked Funaki and Suzuki in the next two shows, those are going to be tough to swallow unless Maeda woke up.

TKG: The crazy hot crowd really covered for Maeda’s indifference. Weird ass crowd popping huge for Miyato in the opener, girls screaming for Suzuki, and going battshit for everything Nakano does. Crowd totally is into the Nakano as underdog chanting his name every time Maeda indifferently picks him up for throw or puts him in holds and then getting into Nakano’s badassedness. Crowd was totally into the underdog almost disrespectfully stepping up story, even if Maeda wasn’t interested in participating.

Nobohiko Takada v Yoji Anjoh

TKG: This went too long and was pretty dull. Their were some neat ideas during the body of the match. Lots of stuff working off the ropes: Anjoh goes for throws with Takada avoiding them by holding onto the ropes and then dropping down to put Anjoh into submissions up against the ropes taunting Anjoh into the rope escape, Anjoh goes for flurry of strikes with Takada’s back against the ropes with Takada holding onto the ropes to avoid downs into Takada dragging submission into middle of ring, yadda yadda. Neat ideas but never really deliver on them in way that made me care. The finish run has some nasty kick exchanges but whole thin felt real by the numbers. “This is the body of a worked shoot match, now we are moving into the end run”. It would do well in a SIM.

PAS: It has been kind of a chore to get through these undercard UWF matches, I am hoping the Fujiwara sundae makes up for the overcooked Takada boiled chicken. Some nice kicks here and there, and some moments of fire by Anjoh, but this wasn’t good.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara v. Kazou Yamazaki

PAS: Not a Fujiwara classic, but match of the show for sure. This is Yamazaki’s big win, so Fujiwara worked from the top more. This also had a lot of dueling leg work, with Fujiwara really struggling and cranking for each submission. Yamazaki was landing a lot of body blows which Fujiwara sold with some of his awesome drooling sells. Still this was a match with a similar story to Nakano v. Maeda and Nakano was way more demonstrative and energetic then Yamazaki. I liked the post match show of emotion by Yamazaki, but it felt like I needed more of that in the match.

TKG: The vibe I got from this was oddly different than the one Phil got. This was worked the opposite of Takada v Fujiwara from the last show. There Takada is the younger guy who is stronger and faster and Fujiwara needs to be defensive. This match was all about Fujiwara being fast and relentless on attack with Yamazaki placed in position of guy who wants to slow it down and work more deliberate. Yamazaki comes off as heavier hitter but not the more active fighter. The more deliberate young fighter beating the fast and relentless veteran is an odd story.