Deep Dive: Big Mouth Loud
How can a short lived promotion like Big Mouth Loud with just eight shows under their belt could have an impact on fans? I can tell you that BML was one of the most fascinating yet obscure promotions to ever exist. A promotion that united people like Katsuyori Shibata, Manabu Hara, Kazunari Murakami and others under one banner. But also had some weird things happening like the Kabuki Family or the Voodoo Murders Invasion. In this very first edition of a new project here on KENKA, I will present to you Deep Dive: Big Mouth Loud, where I talk about the best matches and wrestlers of a promotion.
Fumihiko Uwai, a businessman and former New Japan Pro-Wrestling executive officer, established Big Mouth Loud as his first try pro-wrestling company in August 2005 alongside Shoot-Style legends Akira Maeda, who was appointed supervisor, as well as Masakatsu Funaki as a coach. Big Mouth Loud held its inaugural show in September 2005 at the legendary Korakuen Hall to create the truly strong style with the help of the aforementioned Maeda and Funaki. Just six months later the two Shoot-Style superstars left Big Mouth Loud after some disputes over the direction of the promotion and, according to Maeda, the financial instability of BML. Without these two, Uwai took a completely opposite approach of BML with wrestlers such as TARU for example. After just eight shows Big Mouth Loud was history with huge financial issues: Katsuyori Shibata left the promotion and also Fumihiko Uwai did exactly the same. Funny enough the latter started a new promotion called UWAI STATION just four months later.
So long story short, let's dive into a super short lived promotion but a promotion which was a very fun watch to me back then and was fun to watch again. Be Mad With Attack!!
TOP 10 WRESTLER
10. Alan Karaev
I know what you want to say. Why is a dude on your top list who just had two matches with the company, or his entire career, and isn't a bona fide pro-wrestler? But hear me out folks, this behemoth was a fun to watch in his eight minute combined in a wrestling ring. Karaev competed against company ace Katsuyori Shibata and against Katsumi Usuda, he was victorious in the Usuda match, and both matches were absolutely fun to watch.
A big, almost 200kg, fella who crushed an apple before his match and steps into the squared circle barefoot to put his gigantic hand to the face of his opponent to win via attempt of murder. Yes I am a sucker for something like Karaev in a wrestling ring.
9. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Although I kinda disliked some of his matches, for some reason or another, this is freaking Yoshiaki Fujiwara! The ringmaster himself was placed in singles who weren't that much fun to watch for different reasons, however he showed his excellence in other matches of his BML run in tag matches or in his match against his student Minoru Suzuki.
It's freaking Yoshiaki Fujiwara people. His matwork is so crisp and smooth, every wrestler should watch tapes of hours from this legend. His run with Big Mouth Loud ended like it started with matches I didn't enjoy that much. Fujiwara was paired against The Great Kabuki's "family", mimed by Yutaka Yoshie, Taro Nohashi and Katsushi Takemura.
8. Hiroyuki Ito
If this rewatch showed me something, is that I missed out on some cool people. Hiroyuki Ito is one of them. Sure I watched a U-STYLE match here and there, but not like a frequent watcher of him. Ito's run in Big Mouth Loud was pretty decent to watch until he needed to go to the squared circle against the chaotic Mad Dogs.
Ito is a typical MMA dude from the 90's-00's who put his toe into the pro-wrestling pond for quite some time. He started his pro-wrestling career in Kiyoshi Tamura's U-STYLE promotion and he appeared for other similar companies such as Fu-Ten or BattlArts. His biggest achievement might be coming up as a runner-up in the 2005 edition of NJPW's Young Lion Cup, where he lost against Hirooki Goto.
7. Enson Inoue
From one to another MMA fighter. Enson Inoue fought in PRIDE, UFC and was the first and only Shooto Heavyweight Champion, the MMA organization which was founded by Satoru Sayama. The Hawaiian born fighter had the majority of his pro-wrestling career in New Japan Pro-Wrestling but came to Uwai's BML for the inaugural show against former MMA fighter Gerard Gordeau.
"Yamatodamashii", a Japanese phrase for "the spirit of ancient Japan", had a freaking good BML run. The match with Gordeau was shockingly good, although it was only three minutes long, and his war with Kazunari Murakami just a show later was one of the most fun to watch of the whole run. He may be a controversial figure in pro-wrestling for some people, but I absolutely enjoyed him in Big Mouth Loud.
6. Yuki Ishikawa
Similar to Yoshiaki Fujiwara, you don't need any introduction to Yuki Ishikawa. The Battlarts legend came to Big Mouth Loud and had a good match with Fujiwara pupil Alexander Otsuka and continued his awesome run with BML with one of the best matches of the promotion in a tag match alongside Munenori Sawa.
Just like I already mentioned when speaking about Hiroyuki Ito, Ishikawa was trapped in a feud with the Mad Dogs just shy before the promotion collapse. It wasn't the most fascinating feud, but also cool to see Ishikawa in chaotic brawls.
5. Manabu Hara
Manabu Hara was one of the most fascinating wrestlers in Big Mouth Loud. A student of Yuki Ishikawa, Manabu Hara is such a killer in the ring and just the perfect picture of a Bati-Bati wrestler. Hara, like many of his co-workers, has a history in MMA as well as in pro-wrestling. He started his career in BattlArts, fought absolutely killer matches in Fu-Ten and came to Big Mouth Loud and did the very same.
I pretty much enjoyed all of his work in BML, although my absolute favourite was his first match at Illusion 2 against Munenori Sawa. I would have loved to see more of Hara in this environment and in this deep dive.
4. Katsumi Usuda
To be honest I just love Katsumi Usuda. And the love for him didn't stop while watching all of his Big Mouth Loud work. His kicks, his intensity, his nastiness - Absolutely awesome. Usuda is a real killer trained by Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Kotetsu Yamamoto who was a real threat in Battlarts, Fu-Ten and other similar promotions.
All of his matches were quite fun, with the aforementioned tag team match from Illusion 3 leading the way. Usuda had very different approach to his matches, being the underdog against Karaev, getting chairshoted by Kurisu or being in a chaotic match against the Voodoo Murders. Usuda did all and had a fun run with BML.
Munenori Sawa was just three years into his pro-wrestling career after celebrating his debut in 2003. Sawa was also trained by Yuki Ishikawa and despite Battlarts being his home promotion, he showed his fiery attitude also in Big Mouth Loud and had an incredible run with the company.
3. Munenori Sawa
Munenori Sawa was just three years into his pro-wrestling career after celebrating his debut in 2003. Sawa was also trained by Yuki Ishikawa and despite Battlarts being his home promotion, he showed his fiery attitude also in Big Mouth Loud and had an incredible run with the company.
I was highly enjoyed by his matches, it did not matter if his opponent was bigger, stronger or more experienced than him. Sawa showed his capability to being divers in his matches, although he was just a plucky rookie. Sawa was definitely one of the biggest highlights of the watchthrough and boy I would absolutely loved to see Sawa in one on one fights with Katsuyori Shibata and Kazunari Murakami down the line. To be totally honest here, Sawa brought the fire to Big Mouth Loud, the fire the promotion needed in the midcard between comedy wrestlers and the Voodoo Murders.
You either love him or hate him: Among the internet wrestling community The "Heisei Terrorist" is kind of a controversial figure. I really have to say I stand up for him. Murakami competed for the biggest companies in Japan like New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Pro Wrestling NOAH or FMW and definitely let his mark on several shoot-style promotions such as Battlarts, STYLE-E and of course Big Mouth Loud.
Murakami was the only one who could beat Katsuyori Shibata, the designated Ace of BML, at the inaugural show in an incredible match. He went to war with Enson Inoue, was totally manhandled by Kensuke Sasaki and even defend the honour of shoot-style wrestling against the Voodoo Murders just weeks before the closure of Big Mout Loud. The work in BML may not be his best work, but it was absolutely enjoyable throughout. The grungy street fighter was up my ally and tremendously entertaining for me.
I think you could guess who's the number one here, huh? Of course it's Katsuyori Shibata. "Shibs" wasn't on the same level as years later, but you could see what kind of wrestler he will become in the next few years. And also to see how a promotion would work with him on top as the designated face of the company.
Shibata looked incredible in his matches for Big Mouth Loud and was the personified "Be Mad With Attack" wrestler. Spoiler alert, but five of his eight matches with the promotion will end up on my top ten match-list you'll read next. I think that should tell you enough about his Big Mouth Loud run, which makes me sad that the promotion's lifespan was just so brief.
He was different to his later New Japan Pro Wrestling days and just a joy to watch for being so "fresh". It was just a different approach of wrestling and his energy was fun to watch throughout the whole project here.
Some of you might saw that I didn't include Katsuhiko Nakajima in the Top 10 Wrestler list despite being twice in the Top 10 Match list. This might be the case because he was paired against two wrestlers I absolutely loved to watch here.
This was a short but super intense match between two young guns. Sawa got frustrated very early in the match after Nakajima's kicks and slaps, tricking his opponent into making some mistakes. Nakajima, only 18 year old at this point, seemed to be the way calmer man here until Sawa finally got Nakajima out of his mood.
When Sawa focussed on submission moves, it seemed like Nakajima was going to tap, but he fought back with awesome kicks. Sawa's shining wizard looked cool and could have been the door opener for the win, however Nakajima dodged every kick attempt of Sawa to get it done with a german suplex hold. Super fun shoot style sprint!
9. Yuki Ishikawa vs. Hiroyuki Ito (04/19/2006, Illusion 4)
Before these two fought alongside against the Mad Dogs, Yuki Ishikawa and Hiroyuki Ito squared off against each other at Illusion 4.
I liked the energy Ito brought into the match. Starting right of the bat with kicks to almost knock out the legend Ishikawa. The veteran felt right away that with Ito you could have a problem if you are not being focussed enough. When Ito land the second high kick to Ishikawa in the corner, I was hyped as hell for the match. Yuki Ishikawa's nasty submissions were also a highlight of the match for me.
Ito's kicks were so freaking brutal here. Insane intensity from him in his kicks! I liked the little things here too when Ito shoved the ref away as he wanted to attack Ishikawa yet again. Like I mentioned before Ishikawa's nasty submission holds were fun to watch as always. Ito's resilience to get out of this submissions made it even cooler. Although he may lost against a veteran of the shoot style game, Hiroyuki Ito left a mark here and was really a standout. A bummer that his career didn't last that long though.
8. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima (04/19/2006, Illusion 4)
It's the first Katsuyori Shibata match in the Top 10 and it's against a freaking young babyfaced assassin like Katsuhiko Nakajima, who was already mentioned here against Munenori Sawa. This match took place months before the Sawa match.
Shibata showed way more intensity than his counterpart here, even demanding more fire from Baby Nak here in the following minutes of the match. Shibata was a straight dickhead here and I was absolutely into it. The kicks these two provided were vicious and the holds looked pretty hard.
When Nakajima finally got a bit pissed, he was greater than expected. Nakajima was maybe the underdog but his strikes were on pair with Shibata. Even the outside fighting was better than I thought it would, it was just meaningful and let Shibata to punishing Nakajima. The finish was absolutely mental when Shibata hit Nakajima with the penalty kick twice only to lock in a brutal kimura after Nak kicked out of the PK.
7. Manabu Hara vs. Munenori Sawa (12/29/2005, Illusion 2)
This was a picture perfect BattlArts type of fight here. Sawa was very aggressive right from scratch when he slapped Hara across the face instead of shaking his hand. I loved the energy these two gentlemen brought on the table. Awesome kicks, smooth grappling and incredible striking exchange. They literally kicked the living sh*t out of each other the whole match.
This was a fun affair. Just a good stand and bang fight between two young wrestlers. The longer the match went, the more powerful and meaningful their striking got. Hara's throws were so crisp and his high kicks vicious and super dangerous. Sawa's defense was just to slap Hara with fiery strikes, the fight reached its peak in time when Hara finally put Sawa into his own after a beautiful flashy armbar attempt just when Sawa almost finished him off with strikes.
6. Naomichi Marufuji & Takeshi Morishima vs. Katsuyori Shibata & Kota Ibushi (06/18/2006, Illusion 5)
This was a real break in style now, huh? We've got Pro Wrestling NOAH stalwart Naomichi Marufuji with behemoth Takeshi Morishima against Katsuyori Shibata and then DDT sensation Kota Ibushi. After seeing so many MMA and shoot-style fighter before, this was surely something different.
When Shibata and Marufuji shared the ring, it looked so smooth when they did their attacks on each other. Kicks, strikes and the holds they trade - Absolutely everything was smooth and was a joy to watch for a wrestling connoisseur. However the best meat on the bone was something else for me.
Takeshi Morishima. I absolutely loved everything Morishima did in the match. Let it be his powerful strikes to the lighter Shibata or his incredible bad ass disrespect of then young boy Kota Ibushi, he even ignored the DDT man when he punched him. The heated sequences between Morishima and Shibata, outside or in the ring, were incredible fun to watch and added a different layer to this match though.
5. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hidetaka Monma (03/22/2006, Illusion 3)
Hideteka Monma had next no pro-wrestling experience prior to this match, but still it made my Top 5 here. Monma was a mixed martial artist with a record of 12 wins, 5 losses and 3 draws at this time of the match. He has beaten fellow hybrid guys like Hiroyuki Ito twice, Seichi Ikemoto and Takafumi Ito at this point of his career.
This started awesome right from the bell when both of them tried to punt their respective opponent, however both of them were able to evade those attempts pretty smoothly. Just keep in mind how little Monma had done in pro-wrestling to this point (and won't do much more unfortuately either). While watching the match I was still in jeopardy if Monma will make my Top 10 wrestler list or not and maybe I was wrong not adding him.
The grappling was fun here, especially Monma caught my attention throughout the match. Sure, Shibata was also amazing, but that wasn't a new insight for me. Also the strikes got pretty nasty and it worked very well here for me as a watcher. The speed was also very high and it did felt like a real fight here. The finish was also great when Shibata hit the PK Monma casually kicked out at 0 (!), but still got absolutely destroyed by Shibata after that.
4. Kazunari Murakami vs. Enson Inoue (12/29/2005, Illusion 2)
With looking at the match pairing you already knew this will be a straight war between two insanely maniacs and so it was. Inoue and Murakami met at the second show of Big Mouth Loud and took the fight to the ring, to ringside and even to the outside of Korakuen Hall.
The start of the match was already super explosive with Enson definitely the guy who had the upperhand against the cocky Murakami, who became a fan favourite here and even doubting himself after getting pummeled by Inoue through the whole arena. The PRIDE fighter even got Mura bloody outside of the ring. I loved the spot when Enson ran towards Murakami, who was on the apron, only to get backdroped by Murakami outside of the ring. Awesome!
Inoue almost choked out Murakami, who had then a great comeback after he took off his gloves to finish off Inoue with two PK's here. I genuinely can say that his match was a war, these two guys went really bonkers in the match and delivered a straight out fight.
3. Munenori Sawa & Yuki Ishikawa vs. Katsumi Usuda & Manabu Hara (03/22/2006, Illusion 3)
Just a show prior to this tag bout, Manabu Hara and Munenori Sawa met in a singles match and had a pretty great match there. And now Hara is teaming with Katsumi Usuda against Sawa and his trainer Yuki Ishikawa himself.
I could watch Sawa versus Hara all day long. Man these two brought the perfect energy to the table to get me absolutely involved in these two gentleman. They do super aggressive mat-wrestling to kick things off, kicking each other pretty hard and doing harm to each other each and every time they stand across each other.
Ishikawa was the grumpy veteran here, not being involved that much or with super fire, but still with the perfect mix of doing harm to his opponent. Stretching them, bending them and more. Ishikawa's top notch technical wrestling looks so crips when he is doing it, and him trying to kill Usuda was a joy to watch.
2. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Alan Karaev (02/26/2006, Reallusion)
This match is not even five minutes long, but I absolutely love it to death. Katsuyori Shibata is 0-2 so far in Big Mouth Loud after losing to Kazunari Murakami and Satoshi Kojima the two shows prior, and now he's facing a russian behemoth. What could possible go wrong?
2. Kazunari Murakami
You either love him or hate him: Among the internet wrestling community The "Heisei Terrorist" is kind of a controversial figure. I really have to say I stand up for him. Murakami competed for the biggest companies in Japan like New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Pro Wrestling NOAH or FMW and definitely let his mark on several shoot-style promotions such as Battlarts, STYLE-E and of course Big Mouth Loud.
Murakami was the only one who could beat Katsuyori Shibata, the designated Ace of BML, at the inaugural show in an incredible match. He went to war with Enson Inoue, was totally manhandled by Kensuke Sasaki and even defend the honour of shoot-style wrestling against the Voodoo Murders just weeks before the closure of Big Mout Loud. The work in BML may not be his best work, but it was absolutely enjoyable throughout. The grungy street fighter was up my ally and tremendously entertaining for me.
1. Katsuyori Shibata
I think you could guess who's the number one here, huh? Of course it's Katsuyori Shibata. "Shibs" wasn't on the same level as years later, but you could see what kind of wrestler he will become in the next few years. And also to see how a promotion would work with him on top as the designated face of the company.
Shibata looked incredible in his matches for Big Mouth Loud and was the personified "Be Mad With Attack" wrestler. Spoiler alert, but five of his eight matches with the promotion will end up on my top ten match-list you'll read next. I think that should tell you enough about his Big Mouth Loud run, which makes me sad that the promotion's lifespan was just so brief.
He was different to his later New Japan Pro Wrestling days and just a joy to watch for being so "fresh". It was just a different approach of wrestling and his energy was fun to watch throughout the whole project here.
TOP 10 MATCHES
Honorable Mentions
Kazunari Murakami & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Minoru Suzuki & Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Minoru Suzuki vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Katsumi Usuda vs. Masanobu Kurisu
Yuki Ishikawa vs. Alexander Otsuka
AJ Styles vs. Petey Williams
Kengo Mashimo vs. Munenori Sawa
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Alan Karaev vs. Katsumi Usuda
Enson Inoue & Kazunari Murakami vs. Takashi Iizuka & Yuji Nagata
Daisuke Ikeda vs. Katsumi Usuda
10. Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Munenori Sawa (07/02/2006, Illusion 6)
Some of you might saw that I didn't include Katsuhiko Nakajima in the Top 10 Wrestler list despite being twice in the Top 10 Match list. This might be the case because he was paired against two wrestlers I absolutely loved to watch here.
This was a short but super intense match between two young guns. Sawa got frustrated very early in the match after Nakajima's kicks and slaps, tricking his opponent into making some mistakes. Nakajima, only 18 year old at this point, seemed to be the way calmer man here until Sawa finally got Nakajima out of his mood.
When Sawa focussed on submission moves, it seemed like Nakajima was going to tap, but he fought back with awesome kicks. Sawa's shining wizard looked cool and could have been the door opener for the win, however Nakajima dodged every kick attempt of Sawa to get it done with a german suplex hold. Super fun shoot style sprint!
9. Yuki Ishikawa vs. Hiroyuki Ito (04/19/2006, Illusion 4)
Before these two fought alongside against the Mad Dogs, Yuki Ishikawa and Hiroyuki Ito squared off against each other at Illusion 4.
I liked the energy Ito brought into the match. Starting right of the bat with kicks to almost knock out the legend Ishikawa. The veteran felt right away that with Ito you could have a problem if you are not being focussed enough. When Ito land the second high kick to Ishikawa in the corner, I was hyped as hell for the match. Yuki Ishikawa's nasty submissions were also a highlight of the match for me.
Ito's kicks were so freaking brutal here. Insane intensity from him in his kicks! I liked the little things here too when Ito shoved the ref away as he wanted to attack Ishikawa yet again. Like I mentioned before Ishikawa's nasty submission holds were fun to watch as always. Ito's resilience to get out of this submissions made it even cooler. Although he may lost against a veteran of the shoot style game, Hiroyuki Ito left a mark here and was really a standout. A bummer that his career didn't last that long though.
8. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima (04/19/2006, Illusion 4)
It's the first Katsuyori Shibata match in the Top 10 and it's against a freaking young babyfaced assassin like Katsuhiko Nakajima, who was already mentioned here against Munenori Sawa. This match took place months before the Sawa match.
Shibata showed way more intensity than his counterpart here, even demanding more fire from Baby Nak here in the following minutes of the match. Shibata was a straight dickhead here and I was absolutely into it. The kicks these two provided were vicious and the holds looked pretty hard.
When Nakajima finally got a bit pissed, he was greater than expected. Nakajima was maybe the underdog but his strikes were on pair with Shibata. Even the outside fighting was better than I thought it would, it was just meaningful and let Shibata to punishing Nakajima. The finish was absolutely mental when Shibata hit Nakajima with the penalty kick twice only to lock in a brutal kimura after Nak kicked out of the PK.
7. Manabu Hara vs. Munenori Sawa (12/29/2005, Illusion 2)
This was a picture perfect BattlArts type of fight here. Sawa was very aggressive right from scratch when he slapped Hara across the face instead of shaking his hand. I loved the energy these two gentlemen brought on the table. Awesome kicks, smooth grappling and incredible striking exchange. They literally kicked the living sh*t out of each other the whole match.
This was a fun affair. Just a good stand and bang fight between two young wrestlers. The longer the match went, the more powerful and meaningful their striking got. Hara's throws were so crisp and his high kicks vicious and super dangerous. Sawa's defense was just to slap Hara with fiery strikes, the fight reached its peak in time when Hara finally put Sawa into his own after a beautiful flashy armbar attempt just when Sawa almost finished him off with strikes.
6. Naomichi Marufuji & Takeshi Morishima vs. Katsuyori Shibata & Kota Ibushi (06/18/2006, Illusion 5)
This was a real break in style now, huh? We've got Pro Wrestling NOAH stalwart Naomichi Marufuji with behemoth Takeshi Morishima against Katsuyori Shibata and then DDT sensation Kota Ibushi. After seeing so many MMA and shoot-style fighter before, this was surely something different.
When Shibata and Marufuji shared the ring, it looked so smooth when they did their attacks on each other. Kicks, strikes and the holds they trade - Absolutely everything was smooth and was a joy to watch for a wrestling connoisseur. However the best meat on the bone was something else for me.
Takeshi Morishima. I absolutely loved everything Morishima did in the match. Let it be his powerful strikes to the lighter Shibata or his incredible bad ass disrespect of then young boy Kota Ibushi, he even ignored the DDT man when he punched him. The heated sequences between Morishima and Shibata, outside or in the ring, were incredible fun to watch and added a different layer to this match though.
5. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hidetaka Monma (03/22/2006, Illusion 3)
Hideteka Monma had next no pro-wrestling experience prior to this match, but still it made my Top 5 here. Monma was a mixed martial artist with a record of 12 wins, 5 losses and 3 draws at this time of the match. He has beaten fellow hybrid guys like Hiroyuki Ito twice, Seichi Ikemoto and Takafumi Ito at this point of his career.
This started awesome right from the bell when both of them tried to punt their respective opponent, however both of them were able to evade those attempts pretty smoothly. Just keep in mind how little Monma had done in pro-wrestling to this point (and won't do much more unfortuately either). While watching the match I was still in jeopardy if Monma will make my Top 10 wrestler list or not and maybe I was wrong not adding him.
The grappling was fun here, especially Monma caught my attention throughout the match. Sure, Shibata was also amazing, but that wasn't a new insight for me. Also the strikes got pretty nasty and it worked very well here for me as a watcher. The speed was also very high and it did felt like a real fight here. The finish was also great when Shibata hit the PK Monma casually kicked out at 0 (!), but still got absolutely destroyed by Shibata after that.
4. Kazunari Murakami vs. Enson Inoue (12/29/2005, Illusion 2)
With looking at the match pairing you already knew this will be a straight war between two insanely maniacs and so it was. Inoue and Murakami met at the second show of Big Mouth Loud and took the fight to the ring, to ringside and even to the outside of Korakuen Hall.
The start of the match was already super explosive with Enson definitely the guy who had the upperhand against the cocky Murakami, who became a fan favourite here and even doubting himself after getting pummeled by Inoue through the whole arena. The PRIDE fighter even got Mura bloody outside of the ring. I loved the spot when Enson ran towards Murakami, who was on the apron, only to get backdroped by Murakami outside of the ring. Awesome!
Inoue almost choked out Murakami, who had then a great comeback after he took off his gloves to finish off Inoue with two PK's here. I genuinely can say that his match was a war, these two guys went really bonkers in the match and delivered a straight out fight.
3. Munenori Sawa & Yuki Ishikawa vs. Katsumi Usuda & Manabu Hara (03/22/2006, Illusion 3)
Just a show prior to this tag bout, Manabu Hara and Munenori Sawa met in a singles match and had a pretty great match there. And now Hara is teaming with Katsumi Usuda against Sawa and his trainer Yuki Ishikawa himself.
I could watch Sawa versus Hara all day long. Man these two brought the perfect energy to the table to get me absolutely involved in these two gentleman. They do super aggressive mat-wrestling to kick things off, kicking each other pretty hard and doing harm to each other each and every time they stand across each other.
Ishikawa was the grumpy veteran here, not being involved that much or with super fire, but still with the perfect mix of doing harm to his opponent. Stretching them, bending them and more. Ishikawa's top notch technical wrestling looks so crips when he is doing it, and him trying to kill Usuda was a joy to watch.
2. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Alan Karaev (02/26/2006, Reallusion)
This match is not even five minutes long, but I absolutely love it to death. Katsuyori Shibata is 0-2 so far in Big Mouth Loud after losing to Kazunari Murakami and Satoshi Kojima the two shows prior, and now he's facing a russian behemoth. What could possible go wrong?
I spoke about Karaev before, but I will again. He looks like someone found him in a russian forest, wrestling and living with giant bears and just brought to Tokyo as a special attraction for PRIDE FC. Karaev had absolutely no pro wrestling experience prior to this match and still it was fun to watch.
Katsuyori Shibata looked helpless and was used as a human punching ball for Karaev and I should mention that Shibata worked his ass off to make Karaev looking like an absolute unit here. The russian's offense was pretty limited, still dangerous. Shibata's big chance against this monster was to get him down to the mat and grab a limb of him. And so he did after three and a half minutes. Sure, this wasn't the most wrestling or shoot-style heavy match, but it was the most to remember and right up my ally.
1. Kazunari Murakami vs. Katsuyori Shibata (09/11/2005, Illusion)
We are finally here, the number one pick. Maybe this match isn't the best match overall for some people, but I absolutely loved it and it was a super fresh approach of a main event in terms of the style. Kazunari Murakami and Katsuyori Shibata already had a match just two years ago where Murakami battered Shibata in under five minutes and made him bleed in the legendary Tokyo Dome.
Both men did great in this match and I loved the energy of both competitors here. Murakami looked not that crazy as usual, but still was focussed of being the winner of Big Mouth Loud's first main event. Like already mentioned you could argue that these two could have done even more, but I liked the match nevertheless. Murakami won the match after holding a kick of Shibata, doing a dragon screw and then finishing him off with a PK by himself.
1. Kazunari Murakami vs. Katsuyori Shibata (09/11/2005, Illusion)
We are finally here, the number one pick. Maybe this match isn't the best match overall for some people, but I absolutely loved it and it was a super fresh approach of a main event in terms of the style. Kazunari Murakami and Katsuyori Shibata already had a match just two years ago where Murakami battered Shibata in under five minutes and made him bleed in the legendary Tokyo Dome.
Both men looked for holes in their opponents gameplan and tried to sneak into those holes. It didn't matter if it was via kick, strike or submission. Shibata looked good out there as always, being the dominator in the match with heavy strikes and kicks while Murakami tried to grab a limb of Shibata to lock in a dangerous hold.
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