Kiyoshi Tamura vs Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (U-Style - 2/4/2004)

2nd. Top 3 U-Style match? I remember liking this much more than their 90s matches mostly because Kohsaka is so awesomely charismatic here. He really wanted to get that fucker Tamura and looked like a terminator. There may or may not be some nitpicking about how this is shootstyle by the numbers but screw it... it's a great fight.

Full review ressurected from the old puroresu.tv:

One of the problems in shootstyle and it's reliance on legit skill is that sometimes, one wrestler is just obviously way ahead of the other. This obviously poses a problem for Tamura, who had a tendency to be so way ahead of his opponent (perhaps more in a "worked" sense than in a legit one) that it just looked like he was never in trouble, and they had a hard time getting the match hot. Thankfully, this was far from the case with Kosaka. He was actually one year younger than Tamura, who has been on board with the glory of shoot wrestling since UWF, but he came across like seasoned badass in this match. It helps that the U-STYLE ruleset (only five points with knockouts and rope breaks being equal) makes things so much more intense. Kosaka went after the promotion ace with the determination and the fierce look of a Golem. The early mat exchanges are so great. U-STYLE was plastered with crazy young athletes scrambling around having amazing mat battles, but they couldn't show these two old fuckers a new trick to save their lives. Kosaka effectively out-Tamuras Tamura. When he's finally able to force Tamura to get the rope break, he gets up and has this awesome "1 down, 4 to go" look on his face. He knows Tamura is virtually impossible to beat at this point (I mean it's his promotion and all), but even he can run out of points. Match continues from there and develops in the form of shoot style wrestling at it's finest, with everything you want from that, great submissions, great knockdowns, high intensity and a spectacular final sequence. Great matwork, great strikes, great story, great use of the points system, great fucking match.

I need to rewatch this. This was the first Tamura or Kohsaka match I ever watched. I don't think I truly appreciated it.

Kiyoshi Tamura vs Tsuyoshi Kohsaka - U-Style 02/04/04



Tamura piqued my interest in his match with Ito. I always put delving more into Shoot Style off so I thought I take advantage of another Tamura match among the nominated matches. As a shoot-style novice, I do not know if I really could appreciate the beginning of this match. The work was really smooth and they were always moving, but it felt a little too showy like they were putting on an exhibition. I got the sense that Kohsaka was outworking on Tamura on the ground as he was chaining his moves together better and forced the first rope break at around the 10 minute mark with the guillotine choke. As good 'ol JR would say business is about to pick up as they fired off a thrilling a finish sequence. I liked Tamura responding to the first point loss with a stand up barrage to secure a knockdown and loved the knee that caught Tamura in the midsection in the fracas to put Kohsaka up 4-3. They sequence felt really organic. This is where my shoot style naivete maybe rearing its ugly head, but how come Kohsaka did sell Tamura's deep half crab after the hold. He was screaming and selling in the hold and the nothing. I get the "real" sports argument you dont show weakness but just a little limp or favoring of that knee would have added. Also are closed fists allowed because Tamura used them liberally to break up submissions late? With Tamura down 2-1, Kohsaka goes for the home run, rolling heel hook, that Tamura counters into a cross-armbreaker in the center of the ring. I thought there were better submission sequences earlier that could have been used as the finish. I will probably appreciate this more once i watch more RINGS. Still I love great matwork and this was very well-executed. ***3/4