Kazuyuki Fujita vs Sean McCully-NJPW 11.10.1999.

Fun little match in the vein of the faux shoots that started becoming more prominent around the time. McCully didn't do anything of note, lots of kicks and punches that looked ok but were mainly there so Fujita could counter them with takedowns and also picking McCully up in the air like a child and slamming him down. **3/4

Kiyoshi Tamura vs Tsuyoshi Kohsaka-RINGS 23.1.1999.

One of the talking points on this board I've found eye-rolling has been OJ's that UWFi was "fake" shoot style and RINGS was the real deal. He has his stylistic preferences and maybe he just deems the RINGS crew better workers, but until the Vader/New Japan stuff kicked in the RINGS stuff is every bit as if not more flashy than UWFi. You see it in the way they built drama, the use of rope breaks, knock downs, numbers of convoluted submissions used in matches and ways they're set up and so forth. I mean Volk Han matches are awesome but they're not how real combat looks. This felt like the match from the RINGS OJ was talking about. I've laid out my suspicions on some of Tamura's MMA matches being works or at least having worked elements (the RIZIN tag and his fight vs Hideo Tokoro) but this is really a match that should at least be properly discussed and remembered. A very sophisticated attempt at using all the new knowledge they'd acquired at the time in how real fighting works and using that to try and con people into making them think what they are watching is real but still allowing them to manipulate their emotions. So yeah-pro wrestling, but at a level unseen anywhere else. Most of the match is almost completely devoid of drama-the focus is on on how they defend against submissions and get into positions for them as much as it is on the techniques themselves. The pace and the disposition of the action mimick a fight very well and they walk the line of not doing stuff that would make it look fake and doing enough stuff to keep you both invested and entertained perfectly. Tamura's flurry ruled, and Kohsaka's selling was more reminiscent of a boxer going down from a body blow than Volk Han doing the same thing. The finish fascinates with its simplicity-it may be the greatest comeback I've ever seen in a wrestling match. The reaction it garnered was amazing, as was the execution of the whole thing. I can see some stuff here being a little hard to get into for people who aren't big on real grappling but the finish is something that I can't see not universally resonating with fans of pro wrestling. ****3/4

Kiyoshi Tamura vs Yoshihisa Yamamoto-RINGS 24.6.1999.

This has dethroned Takada-Koshinaka 5.8.1986. as my best match of all time, which is honestly something I never expected to happen. I still kind of wish Takada/Koshinaka was my #1. I certainly think it is the most ambitious and fascinating pro wrestling match ever. And it's the one match that I thought could have reached pro wrestling perfection. I did think it had some flaws (I didn't like a revenge tombstone and it had a blown spot or two too many). Still the way they seamlessly transitioned from using shoot style to junior to classic wrestling stuff is just unreal.

This match wasn't as ambitious. It just happened to be the perfect shoot style match. And shoot style is my favourite pro wrestling style, and Tamura is the wrestler who best encompasses what I want out of shoot style. This is his masterpiece.

It's hard to put the beauty of some of the grappling sequences into words. Does "the best stuff ever done in wrestling" sound like a good enough visual image? If there's one thing I dislike about RINGS it's that I feel they sometimes used rope breaks as a cheap way to generate heat and kick things into another gear. That's pretty much everything Tamura stands against as a wrestling character. He refuses to use rope breaks unless he is in mortal danger. He's always looking for a counter to a submission. Maybe it's his supposed inferiority complex, maybe it's his insane drive to be the best-it doesn't really matter one way or the other. I love the way this match progressed. The insanely hot crowd chanting both fighter's names before the beginning of the match is the kind of stuff that instantly slaps you in the face. That something so simple could add to the match so much. There's no wasted movement, no down time-it's not 20 minutes of nearfalls, but it is constant action. Not constant highspots even. But they're always looking for an opening. Always looking for a transition. There are several moments in the middle of the match where they tease you with a bigger submission nearfall only to counter of it. And the match builds and builds and then it just explodes into the most dramatic best thing to ever happen. Tamura and Yamamoto put on a clinic in selling fatigue-and even in the amazing final battle manage to throw in neat touches playing up to Tamura's character. Despite always being a wrestler who insisted on winning using his ground skills Tamura throws that all out of the water and dares Yamamoto to get up and continue their striking battle. It's an all time great moment based on his performance in the match and execution alone but the backstory adds to it as well. And when it's becoming obvious neither of them are going to prevail he shoots for a takedown right at the end to try to win, which may be the ultimate Tamura moment. *****