Fujiwara Family: RINGS Astral Step: Final 12/7/91

Grom Zaza vs. Koichiro Kimura 

PAS: The Russians are here! Zaza is completely relentless, constantly swarming all over Kimura, trying to grab and arm, leg or neck to twist. Kimura fends him off for a while with kicks and punches, but eventually just seems to try to survive scrambling to the ropes and turtling . Eventually Zaza grabs his neck in almost a shoot full nelson for the tap. I am excited to see more Zaza, but this got dull and was really long (and may have even been clipped if the time stamp was right).

Herman Renting vs. Nobuaki Kakuta 

PAS: I am not sure what or why this ways. Kakuta was a popular karate fighter who represented Japan in international compition, and really over with the crowd. This might have been a shoot, or a dull work. First three or so rounds they just circled each other and feinted. Everytime Kakuta threw anything the crowd would go bonkers, but I am not sure he landed a single solid shot. Renting, who looks like the evil neighbor kid in Toy Story, gets a knock down with an illegal closed fist, which suggested work to me, but this ended with an unsatisfying draw which kind of suggests shoot. Either way I suggest that you don't watch it. 

Chris Dolman vs. Tiger Levani

PAS: Levani is another Russian from the Zaza and Han family. He shoots for limbs, but gets stuffed by Dolman on almost all of his attempts. Dolman gets a neck crank for the tap. Hard to really get a sense of Levani, as Dolman ate him up. Pretty dull although at least it wasn't super long.

Dick Vrij vs. Willie Peeters

PAS: This has been a rough show so far, but this was awesome. These are my two favorite pre-Russian gaijin, and they go after it. Really aggressive match with both guys winging kicks to the head and wild punches. Vrij has heavy kicks and drops Peeters with both a head kick and scything body kick. Peeters is a spunky energetic babyface, and I loved him trying to break down the bigger Vrij with hard body shots and he even gets off a couple of throws. Peeters eventually gets dropped by a a awesome three kick combo, right to the body, left to the body, right to the head to crumple him. Every moment was exciting, loved this.

ER: I skipped past the other matches right to this one, Phil took the body shots on the first hour of the show. And this might have been the best 10 minutes we have in RINGS so far, especially in terms of big moments. This felt more like the final fight in a movie, where both guys keep knocking each other down after initially looking like the fight would be over a minute in. Peeters gets a big belly to belly but gets absolutely leveled by a Vrij high kick shortly after, and while Peeters got up at 5 he looked like a guy who shouldn't be getting up at 5. I thought Peeters was a sitting duck, he kept lasting, and started getting very vocal with Vrij. Peeters might keep getting knocked down, but he keeps springing back to his feet to shove it in the much larger Vrij's face. The whole match was nothing but finishers, the moments of Peeters actually making Vrij sweat were great, and each new explosive Vrij strike kept looking like it should leave Peeters motionless. BUT, Vrij kept breathing harder and harder, and the possibility of Peeters surviving and outlasting became more real. I got really into Peeters' babyface performance, probably my favorite in RINGS so far.  Vrij goes full bully when his breathing gets harder, shoving Peeters into the ropes and catching him with a knee on the recoil, and Vrij's final left-right-left kick combo was devastating. Two body shots and that left high kick, and the way Peeters fell the ref knew to immediately wave it. This whole match is a highlight video. 

Gerard Gordeau vs. Mitsuya Nagai

PAS: Gordeau is a kickboxer who got to the finals of the first UFC, and fought in Zero-One and New Japan. He might also be a Nazi, although he claims Jewish heritage and says his swastika tattoo is the Buddhist symbol (take that with the coke rock sized grain of salt in deserves). Gordeau is a guy who was known for taking liberties and he roughs up Nagai, bloodying his nose and finishing him with a sick guillotine. Pretty one sided. I would have liked to see later years crowbar Nagai against Gordeau.

ER: Gerard Gordeau is a real problematic wrestling legend. He's a scummy Dutch guy who had to work for a living as a child after he lost his dad, and used karate as a way out. He's Daniel Larusso, if Larusso were a Nazi in the early 70s. But Gordeau has been in some major historical portions of Mixed Martial Arts history. He broke his foot on future Hawaii 5-0 actor Teila Tuli's teeth in the first UFC fight ever. He's got less than 20 worked matches in history, yet he's faced Inoki, Hashimoto, Naoya Ogawa, Akebono, Maeda, literally the biggest legends of Japanese wrestling. He's a methlab Kazunari Murakami (who Gordeau also faced!), just with a more vacant serial killer face than an anime villain. 

He really overwhelms Nagai, and Nagai is a really tough guy. Nagai is a rookie in RINGS going up against a bunch of way bigger Dutch dudes, and now he's in his early 50s and still going at it. But Gordeau is all sharp knees and kicks thrown so hard he doesn't care if he falls over. Nagai is constantly on his heels with Gordeau lurching in. He catches Nagai with two different sick standing guillotines and then just drops him like a dead body. The second one finishes Nagai, but the fight went into the 4th round and it was so totally one sided that Nagai came out more impressive for surviving. Gordeau came off like a real killer, and it's too bad we didn't get to see him against any Russians. Maybe that's for the best though. 

Masaaki Satake vs. Hans Nyman

PAS: This also might have been a shoot. Satake is an original K1 guy who is probably best known for getting German suplexed nearly to death by Rampage Jackson in Pride. No finish in this match either, but it had a lot of activity especially by Satake who threw constantly kicks, hooks to the body and straight punches. Nyman fired back too, and while this never came close to a finish, but it was at least brisk. 

Volk Han vs. Akira Maeda

ER: I didn't realize Han debuted in the main event, against the biggest star, on the biggest RINGS show (up to that point of their history). They obviously saw something special in him, because of course how could you not? We get a good feeling out process, Han looking to get Maeda to throw first by throwing little slaps to Maeda's stomach and cheek, checking leg kicks. And once Han starts to do Volk Han things, it's like Maeda instantly gets dragged into playing Han's game when Han times a Maeda strike to hit a flying armbar. Han is the guy most likely to destroy someone's legs with a shoot figure 4 variation, and the way he makes knots out of Maeda's legs is pure art. It looks like he knows dozens of different pressure points in the legs, and it's amazing to watch him make even slight movements to apply different pressure. Maeda has to scramble for the ropes pretty quick a couple times, and that's when he decides to go for suplexes. There were some great suplexes in this fight, with Maeda's snap vertical looking picture perfect, and Han gets a huge deadlift belly to belly and back suplex, and even spikes Maeda with a kind of DDT. Maeda seems somewhat befuddled by Han, who keeps flinging himself at Maeda's legs and gets an absolutely disgusting kneebar that was hyperextending Maeda's long leg at such a gross angle that the biggest crowd in RINGS history had to think the ace was leaving limbless. 

Maeda gets a miracle rope break, and Han really starts looking like a monster. He steps out of the way of Maeda's big leaping heel kick and starts taunting him to do it again, then starts basically knocking Maeda to the mat. Han catches a high kick and just shoves Maeda over, then sweeps his leg like a real jerk after Maeda gets up. BUT, fighting over those suplexes and going full strength with submissions start to suddenly, visibly catch up to Han, as he appears to gas out down the stretch. At first it looks like Han is baiting Maeda into throwing some more, some obvious trick by resting his hands on his knees and leaning in with his face. It looks like a total trap, and Maeda treats it like a trap, until he realizes that Han is washed. NOW that leaping heel kick doesn't miss, and Han eating canvas felt like a triumphant moment. After barely beating the count from that kick, Han uses the rest of his strength to throw Maeda with a big uranage, but doesn't have quite the same energy to tap Maeda, legs getting all pretzeled together again, and Maeda taps him with a toehold as Han is bending at Maeda's knee (for the dozenth time). I spent so much of this match wondering how Han was able to keep up such a furious pace, and well, eventually he was not. This was such an excellent way to close out the first year of RINGS, Han the invading Russian who almost embarrassed the ace, no doubt setting up huge things for the next year. 

PAS: What a debut for Han, right up there with the greatest debut matches in wrestling history. We all know Han as a master of technique, smooth, violent, innovative, his execution is unparalleled, but man did he just get pro-wrestling as a storytelling medium so quickly. I loved the way this progressed, with Han showing such virtuosity early and Maeda seeming taken aback at the speed and force of his attacks. That first leaping cross armbreaker threw Maeda both literally and figuratively. Then Maeda seemed to adjust and find moments to shine, a kick which lands, a snap suplex, and Maeda doesn't die with some of those submissions, he just lives another day, and eventually that is enough. Han starts to wilt, his hair starts to get mussed (shout out to my brother from another Tomk for coming up with his theory about Han's hair selling), and Maeda hits his big spin kick, dropping Han like a stone. Han is able to get back, hit a throw and tie up Maeda again, but Akira pulls out a trick and is able to snatch an ankle before Han can snatch a knee. Man am I excited to revisit this match up again, what a pair of legends. 

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Fujiwara Family: RINGS Astral Step 3rd KAMUI 9/14/91

ER: Last RINGS show we got a cool pre-show video showing all of the combatants warming up in the arena, and this time we get a couple of Maeda trainees (there is a chance they are known guys, but I'm at the age where I am not going to be recognizing every Japanese young boy on sight) doing a demonstration for the crowd on what strikes are allowed under RINGS rules. It's presented like two flight attendants going through the machinations of how to apply your oxygen mask or use your seat as a floatation device, but instead showing how to legally use palm strikes, upward elbow strikes to the cheekbone, and soccer kicks to the haunches. 

Mitsuya Nagai vs. Herman Renting

PAS: This is a rematch from an earlier show, but was a way more killer version. I got the sense that this was both guys figuring some stuff out. It starts tentative, but gets nasty quick with Nagai trying to behead Renting with a soccer kick. Renting responds with a soccer kick of his own later, and some very cool takedowns. Nagai hits this somersault enzigiri which was the single coolest spot of RINGS so far, before Renting is able to take him down and choke him out. Cool energetic fight that got me more excited about future RINGS undercards. 

ER: Yeah this match was a huge step up from their opening fight from the last show. The highlight of that match was Nagai missing a spinning heel kick that would have rearranged Renting's face, and here Nagai got to hit a version of that kick. Before that awesome kick (a rolling kappo kick that connected with a real hook), this really kicked up to a new level when Renting checked a hard Nagai kick with his bicep, and Renting goes full wartime beast mode and demanded Nagai kick him harder. From there this was intense as hell, with hard fought rope breaks and big swinging knockdown attempts. Renting really made me buy into his psycho kamikaze routine, and Nagai tried to stay measured while being more careful with his hard shots. The finishing stretch of knockdown to rope break to knockdown was really exciting. 

Willie Peeters vs. Bert Kops Jr.

PAS: Peeters continues to be super entertaining, both guys had some really impressive throws, full hips, big tourque high air. That was pretty much the extent of what Kops could do, but they looked cool. He also hit a body shot or two that looked good. Peeters also had some great looking shots, including a cool moment where he gets thrown by Kops but comes up with a slick little uppercut to catch him. Peeters also put him down in convincing and nasty fashion. This was pretty long for a RINGS match and at one point Kops tweaks his knee, I think with a minute or two shaved this is a hidden gem. Even at its length it was entertaining stuff. 

ER: I thought this was exciting as hell, I thought it really turned into a big time movie fight. This was long for the big swings and throws they were taking, and it sustained the craziness for a longer time than most are capable. We had a ton of cool moments, like a GIFable 3 seconds of them going Low Ki/Red when Peeters misses a convincing front spin kick and Kops dodges 2 inches away from a follow up right cross. Kops fights for and gets a bunch of really impressive lifts where he really sticks with them until he wears Peeters to the mat. Kops had some annoyingly persistent strikes, at one point it looked like he kept targeting Peeters' hip with kicks right to the bone. This kept evolving into such a slugfest, and the finish came off insanely violent. Peeters hit Kops with this quick 5 strike combo that looks kung fu deadly. It was like Peeters hit in his 5 pressure points ending with a knee right to the mouth. Peeters even has this great expression on his face afterward, this real "Why did you make me kick your ass like that?" tenderness. If Shawn Michaels was able to pull off Peeters' face, body slumped over the ropes after getting the match finally called in his favor, it would have been way better than I'm Sorry I Love You. 

Dick Vrij vs. Ton Van Maurik

PAS: This goes five three minute rounds, which you know, why? I like both of these guys and you could clip this to a fun 7 minute match. Van Maurik bullies Vrij into the ropes and strafes his body with knees and body shots. There is a fun spot where they fall awkwardly to the floor. Vrij nearly beheads van Maurik with a high kick, which really should have been the finish, but they go another round and a half and end things with a C- armbar. I have liked how RINGS kept it tight and fast on previous shows, this one has started to feel the bloat. 

ER: I really do not like rounds in my RINGS. I think the breaks in between are too long, and I would much rather see my fighters get out of a bad situation with cunning, rather than end things with a clock. I think RINGS matches can really benefit from some short length, and I think a long match like this needed more of a flow and no round breaks. This had a lot of these two doing things I liked, it all just felt too broken up and stretched out. All of the knockdowns looked good, and Vrij showed a kind of tantrum heel here in certain parts, like a frustrated teen athlete who gets frustrated at being shown up and shoves a ref. Phil is right, this could have really been a throw down if the time was cut in half, but this felt like a bad use of two cool personalities. 

Akira Maeda vs. Willy Wilhelm

PAS: This was pretty nifty with Maeda opening by catching a Wilhelm kick and spinning into a big snap german suplex. Wilhelm controls the middle of this, hitting some big judo throws and trying for submissions, including a deep single crab for a big near fall. I liked Wilhelm no-selling the Maeda body kicks by slapping his fat belly like Kamala. The finishing rush by Maeda was super impressive, he hits a cool low kick into a head kick, and a spinning kick which looked as nasty as the one which cut Fujinami, before ankle locking him for the tap. 

ER: I thought this was two really great characters telling a really great story, loved this as a showdown. I've been really getting into Wilhelm as a RINGS heel, he's like a Dutch take on Scott Norton. He's an Olympic judoka working a Crusher iron beer belly gimmick, and it rules. I loved last show when their intro video showed all the fighters warming up and sparring, it only showed Wilhelm sitting in the crowd with this arms crossed over his belly, talking about how he's going to beat everyone. He's cocky and kind of a wrecking ball, and Maeda is this cool stoic figure who had the right strategy and stuck to the plan. Viewing these '91 episodes of RINGS as a season, I really like the Maeda bad left knee as a returning theme. We've seen promos every show where he's getting his knee iced or rubbed down or taped up, and now I can't take my eyes of Maeda's left knee in matches. 

Wilhelm makes a big show of being too large to absorb Maeda's strikes, trying psych out Maeda by requesting Maeda target his stomach, and Maeda sticks to the plan and keeps hacking down that tree. Wilhelm was smothering early, walking through strikes to hit nice judo throws, working (the right) knee over with a great single crab. Is he targeting Maeda's better knee because Maeda is really hurt? Or was it just the leg he happened to grab? But it keeps getting harder to walk through the strikes, because Maeda was not psyched out. And soon Wilhelm isn't walking through strikes, he's absorbing strikes. I love how Wilhelm begins to realize what he's done, you can see these leg kicks really affecting him, and Maeda is able to land an insane German suplex that absolutely dumps Wilhelm. He starts landing harder kicks as Wilhelm is becoming a slower and open target, and nails him right in the thigh with a hard kick and sneaking in his surprise left high kick. The final submission was a terrific shot, Wilhelm trapped in Maeda's leg lock and stretching out as long as possible, still not near the ropes. This was some great RINGS storytelling in an awesome match. 

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Fujiwara Family: RINGS Astral Step 2nd Aqua Heat 8/1/91

ER: I really loved our opening 5 minute video, giving us a cool background glimpse of all our fighters warming up in Osaka Prefectural Gym the after noon of the show, see Maeda getting his knee looked at, Vrij grappling in the ring, guys running the stairs, Chris Dolman and Willy Wilhelm sitting in the stands with their arms crossed over their barrel stomachs. Seeing Vrij grappling made him look like one of those guys training in a warehouse in an 80s action movie. I love these kind of calm before the storm videos, seeing these guys joke around and put on their gear, then seeing 6,000 fans as they file into the gym. 

Mitsuya Nagai vs. Herman Renting

PAS: This might be Nagai's first worked match (he doesn't have anything earlier on Cagematch) and he showed some of the tentativeness one might expect from your first match. I am used to Nagai just hurling reckless heat (he damn near killed Iizuka) but here the kicks are just kind of normal. Renting spent most of the match timing Nagai and taking him down when he left a kick out there. Finish was cool with Nagai spinning into an armbar, although it kind of went against the story of the match. Interesting curiosity to see a guy with such a long career in his debut, but outside of that this wasn't much. 

ER: This was very base level RINGS, and that's fine. It is cool to see baby Nagai, and I thought that while the match proper wasn't a super interesting format, it at least played out to a logical conclusion. Nagai was throwing fast full extension kicks, which kept Renting from getting too close. Renting would check leg kicks and then back away from a big sweeping high kick, like he was getting the timing down on a boss battle. Nagai outpaced him on the mat and drew two rope breaks and it seemed clear that Renting's only chance was to bait Nagai into a big miss and hopefully land a knockdown. He does catch a Nagai kick and then duck an awesome spinning heel kick from Nagai (Renting would have been faceless had he not ducked), but his lone advantage is fairly easily turned into a Nagai armbar. Again, base level stuff, but some of shootstyle is being enamored by the things that could have finished but barely missed. 

Chris Dolman vs. Ton Van Maurik

PAS: This was tremendous stuff, just a pair of permed dudes trying to absolutely liquify each other's internal organs with body shots. This isn't your slick submission master Volk Han stuff, it is phone booth pummeling.  Maurik unloads with combos to the kidneys which drops Dolman, and Dolman rag dolls him with judo and starts throwing these huge headbutts right to the chest and solar plexus of van Maurik, it looked like he was trying to bob for apples in van Maurik's chest cavity. You give me two big dudes hitting each other hard in interesting ways, that is all I want from wrestling. 

ER: If you're Dutch, you don't need a perm (seriously I'm pretty sure the Dutch have the world market cornered on citizens with very curly hair, it's one of their things); but if you're Dutch, you don't necessarily have to try to cave in a dude's chest with your head. This was all about Dolman being a patient bulldozer and Van Maurik tries to out quick him with leg kicks, but Dolman is good at catching leg kicks. Van Maurik has a less confident look in his eyes every time he gets stood back up after a rope break, and it's hard not to be intimidated by Dolman when you see him basically shrug off knees to the body. The great unexpected moment of this was Dolman keeping his face covered and being fine with taking leg kicks, but getting rocked by two unexpected punches to the gut. I loved seeing Dolman suddenly on the deep defensive, on his heels back to the ropes and knocked down with some well placed knees. But after Van Maurik goes for the ropes again to break a tangle, you can see in his eyes that he knows where this is going. Those rained down headbutts are super nasty, that's the kind of thing you deal with during a bear attack, specifically a bear attack that's going to leave you on the losing end. Dolman literally dragging Van Maurik to the middle of the ring for the heel hook tap was some savage business, made Van Maurik look like someone without a....Ton...of experience. 

Willy Wilhelm vs.  Pieter Smit

PAS: There was one really awesome moment in this match where Smit judo throws Wilhelm ribs first into the ropes and follows up with a rib kick. Looked super violent and Wilhelm sold it like he got hit in the side with a truncheon. Most of the rest of the match was Wilhelm taking Smit down, not violently but convincingly and eventually putting on a cool choke for the finish. As a match it wasn't anything special but it did have a couple of memorable moments which is enough for me.

ER: I liked Wilhelm's alpha bully attitude, looked like a Dutch Stan Hansen who learned judo instead of lariats. I don't really get as involved in the shootstyle matches that are just "one larger judoka using his weight to slightly bully another judoka", and it felt too similar to stuff that happened in the match right before this one. But there is always going to be some gold to mine from any of these matches, and Phil is right, that moment here was Smit doing a judo throw that comes close to tossing Wilhelm right over the top rope, sends him off balance and lands kicks right to the ribs. I also really liked when Wilhelm tried to get mount and Smit threw up a knee from his back right to Wilhelm's teeth (you could tell it really annoyed him). Also big ups to Wilhelm for locking in essentially a shoot Million Dollar Dream. 

Dick Vrij vs. Akira Maeda

PAS: This felt like the RINGS version of the first Sting vs. Vader match or the second Cena vs. Lesnar, where a beloved hero just gets overwhelmed and destroyed. It is the Empire Strikes Back of the series, with Maeda getting the first win last show, but he ends up in carbonite at the end of this one. Vrij just overwhelms him with his size and aggression, damn near knocking him out the ring with a high kick, and constantly putting Maeda on his back foot. Akira gets one knockdown with a nasty body shot, but Vrij gets back up and keeps swarming him. I couldn't imagine Maeda was going to get beat this convincingly on only his second show and I kept waiting for the comeback that never came. Eventually Vrij sweeps the leg with a nasty kick and while Maeda gets up he is a wounded antelope about to get picked off by the lion. Great match especially in context and I can't wait to see Maeda get his revenge. 

ER: After seeing the pre-show video that showed everyone on the show warming up or sparring, and only showed Maeda getting his left knee looked, I was wondering if this was how his match was going to go. And I'm still kind of surprised that was the match they worked, with Maeda clearly favoring a leg and standing on it as long as he could before Vrij effectively targeted it. Vrij is so cool at throwing big crazy kicks as a decoy, as a way of getting Maeda off balance so he could land a wicked punch to the body. Maeda was down bad, unable to put much weight on that left knee, so that even when he hit one of his best kicks of the match it still required him to put weight on that leg, and he went down with Vrij. Maeda still manages to bounce Vrij off the top of his head on a takedown, always looks like he's going to be able to outlast Vrij. That's probably because we've been conditioned from years of watching Fujiwara wait for his opponent to gas, or Ishikawa wait to catch an opponent's kick all of these sons of Fujiwara have us conditioned to wait for them to pull out a buzzer beater. And Vrij does indeed look like he's gassing out (his post-fight backstage promo where he can only get out literally one word is a testament to how gassed he really was), so it was easy to mentally keep Maeda in this fight. Vrij is just relentless with strikes though, a guy who knew he was tiring but correctly calculated that his opponent would go down before he tired out. Can't wait to see the rubber match. 

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Fujiwara Family: RINGS Astral Step 1st Spirit U 5/11/91

RINGS was the one of spinoffs after the end of the UWF Reborn and definitely counts as part of the Fujiwara family tree. It is also one of the big blind spots in my pro-wrestling watching. I have seen a handful of the big Volk Han matches, but not in years, so I am looking forward to digging in.

Pieter Smit vs. Herman Renting

PAS: Smit was a judoaka and Renting was a kickboxer although we didn't see a tremendous amount of stylistic variety in this match. Almost all of the RINGS fighters were pro-wrestling rookies and clearly some got the concept of performance more then others. This was pretty basic, with the only real flash being a nice Smit take down near the end of the match. I imagine this early stuff will be pretty hit or miss as the wrestlers start to figure out what works and what doesn't.

Willie Peeters vs. Marcel Haarmans 

PAS: This was more like it. Haarmans was also pretty dry, but Peeters had a lot of cool shit, using fast hands and feet and leaping in for shots and takedowns. Haarmans was slower, but had heavier hands and his stuff landed with more of a thud. I also really liked his counter to a Peeters throw, Peetrs tosses him with a takedown, buy Haarmans held on to his neck and came out of the throw with a neck crank. Finish was cool with Peeters dancing in and out landing strikes eventually hitting a nice high kick to drop Haarmans for the ten count. 

Chris Dolman vs. Bill Kazmaier

PAS: This was a bit dull, although I like the idea of swollen looking Kazmaier as a hard hitter. He had a couple of thrust shots to the ribs and chest which really looked like it compressed Dolman's insides, and I liked his awkward strong guy throws. Dolman had a Sambo and Judo background, and had a couple of OK takedowns before submitting Kazmaier with an arm bar. Had a moment or two, but was too long for the cool parts it had. 

ER: I'm a big fan of big white dudes who look like this doing shootstyle. Dolman and Kazmaier both look like linebackers, both have that wrestler hunch with powerlifter stomachs, and their kickpads look like they were made with duct tape and insulation. Kazmaier's elbow thrust to the stomach and the way Dolman sold it by kind of crumpling down to a knee basically made this match for me. I was going to say some wrestler needs to steal that one as a finisher, and then I remembered that Chris Ridgeway does a very similar thrust elbow and it's my favorite piece of offense that he does. Kazmaier also had a cool fisherman's slam that looked awkward and tough and completely deadlifted, and I love that kind of stuff. 

Akira Maeda vs. Dick Vrij

PAS: This was excellent and well worthy of a main event spot on this card. Vrij has a bleach blond flattop and earrings and has a great 80s movie villain henchman look, I could totally see him as the third guy to die in Under Siege 2. He is also great at taunting when things go his way and roid raging when they don't. This is mostly sparring on the feet, and both guys were bringing heat. Vrij uses his length to create distance landing a hard slap which really rattles Maeda, and he has great head movement which lets him avoid some of Maeda's winging shots. Maeda gets an early near fall on a multi body shot combo which ends with a high kick, looked totally great and Maeda could really place his shots.  Eventually Maeda suckers Vrij into throwing a shot he could catch and he turns it into a nasty half crab. Good stuff if a little basic for what RINGS would become. 

ER: Dick Vrij is such a badass, totally looks like he'd be the bad Dutch rapper in an early 90s Eurodance project. He's great at keeping distance with hard kicks, and he drops Maeda hard enough a few times that I was actually thinking he could beat the top gun on the debut show. His kicks and knees looked like something that could finish an ace like Maeda, but whenever Vrij would get close, Maeda would toss him with a series of disgusting suplexes. Maeda bounces Vrij off the top of his head with a belly to belly, catches Vrij's achilles over his shoulder and bounces him off his head with a capture suplex, also crushes him with a fisherman's buster. Vrij keeps getting more and more aggressive as things go on, getting overly excited after a knockdown (ending on a sick knee to the lungs) and gets in a few hits before the ref could pull him off. Vrij is smart and doesn't play it like he's outright sneaking in cheap shots, but comes off like a guy who got excited by his knockdown and was already thinking three strikes ahead. Maybe my favorite moment of the match was this awesome brief moment of tension that saw Vrij back Maeda into a corner and just kind of hold him there while making full, smirking eye contact. Add a mustache to his flattop crewcut and he would have looked like an off duty cop backing his wife into a kitchen corner for using the wrong tone to ask how his day was. You don't always get that kind of simmering tension in wrestling without it being over the top and act-y, and this came off like real psycho shit. 

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