Cover The Sleaze #1

 

Welcome to another new project on KENKA, where I'm going to review three-four matches per episode of the famous japanese Independent Wrestling scene. These randomly chosen matches don't need necessarily have to be great fights, just matches I watched to discover more and more of the so called "Sleaze" of Japan. Let's have fun!

Great Takeru vs. Tokai Bushido V3 (IWA Kokusai, 09/12/1999)

Let's dive into IWA Kokusai, a fed which was ran by Goro Tsurumi from 1993 to 2013. We're at the famous Tsurumi Fruit & Vegetables Market and the participants are Great Takeru, a IWA Japan regular who's still active to this day, and Tokai Bushido V3, who started his ride in Pro Wrestling Crusaders as Kosei Maeda. 

Takeru started the match right away and attacked Tokai just before the bell rang. They went outside where Takeru hit his opponent with a baseball slide and a brawl erupted. Takeru threw Tokai into a pile of chairs, not once but four times. Tokai hit back with a brainbuster and some groundgame. They exchanged holds and pretty much did nothing for the next minutes. 

This went definitely a bit too long. While Tokai did some nice moves from the air, although he missed some spots, Takeru did nothing from notice. This wasn't bad at all, but not that enjoyable as well.
RATING: 3/10

Yuto Kikuchi vs. Rising KID (ACF, 04/04/2021)

WATCH

Fighting Team A-Toys Challenge Fight, short ACF, is a Mixed Martial Arts/Martial Arts Promotion which also have a portion of Pro-Wrestling on their cards. So we've got Yuto Kikuchi, a Dotonbori signed wrestler who is making waves especially across Kansai and Rising KID, who is also from Kansai wrestled mainly for Japan 2000 years ago.

KID immediately left the ring and taunted Kikuchi and it happened nothing for a couple of minutes. When KID came back to the ring, Kikuchi attacked him right away and the action finally started and was pretty fast and fun to watch. KID was outside yet again, he threw a chair against Kikuchi and they had a fight around the ring. KID even kicked a fan, what a dastardly man he is!

Back in the ring the masked man bended the rules yet again, but ultimately was stopped by Kikuchi's athletics. Kikuchi hit a suplex for two while KID kicked Kikuchi in the crown jewels after distracting the referee. Just seconds later Kikuchi hit a dropkick which was in fact the finish. This was underwhelming considering the two participants.
RATING: 3/10

Hikaru Sato vs. Buffalo (Mr. Gannosuke Produce, 01/12/2016)

Mr. Gannosuke held some self produced shows called "Kishindo Returns" years ago and the nineteenth show was shown on niconico back then. Hikaru Sato, who is probably one of the most consistent man in the japanese indies, faced (Black) Buffalo, who's famous for his time with Osaka Pro Wrestling.

Buffalo, the heel he is, attacked Sato during his entrance with a chair. The ambush continued in the squared circle with Buffalo hitting a big lariat on Sato, who felt to the outside. The masked man threw Sato through the crowd on chairs until Sato turned the tables around and threw Buffalo against the ringpost and kicked the living hell out of him. Sato tried to get back into the ring, but Buffalo seemed to smart and always a step ahead of him.

They went back outside and had an exciting sequence there where Buffalo tried to hit Sato with a chair, but the latter kicked him until the masked man could raise the chair and hurt Sato's leg. Finally Buffalo was able to hit Sato with the chair on his exposed skull, that was pretty cool.

Sato got almost counted out by the referee, he was busted wide open after the brutal attacks by Buffalo and still the Osaka man wanted to get the win via countout now. To the delight of the fans Sato reached the ring in time only to get pulled out of it by Buffalo yet again. Buffalo wanted to hit a piledriver on the exposed concrete floor and after a failed attempt he finally put Sato down on the head.

Sato was a bloody mess and thus he looked like a wounded prey for the Buffalo, however Sato pulled a Cross Armbreaker out of nowhere and Buffalo was forced to tap out. This was an exciting watch with enough drama for me to be invested in it. Good little fight!
RATING: 6/10

Hiroaki Moriya vs. Dragon Soldier LAW (Kamagasaki Pro, 05/03/2011)

WATCH

Kamagasaki Pro had a revival just this year, but that match is from their inaugural event in 2011. Kamagasaki (Airin) is a ward in Osaka, which is "famous" for their riots, day laborer and homeless people. Dragon Soldier LAW worked most notably for Indy Sleaze legend promotion FUCK!, while Moriya was the Co-Promoter of J2000, worked for over a dozen Indies and is still wrestling today. 

They began the fight with Moriya dominating the first minutes with doing a chop battle, kicks and lariat to the corner. LAW had enough, he flew outside of the ring to escape Moriya because he literally was afraid of him. Back in the squared circle LAW was still not in control until he low blowed Moriya. He put the latter into a leglock and targeted the left leg.

Moriya came back pretty fast, hitting LAW with a brainbuster and a DDT, but he wasn't able to get the job done. After a short control period of LAW, Moriya hit a lariat to the back of LAW's head and a lariat to the front to win the match. This wasn't good at all. Maybe I'm a bit harsh, but yea whatever.
RATING: 2/10