A fun match that had a little of seemingly everything that can be done within a shoot. It was definitely a work, but the way they were able to work together to do the complicated sequences or even just keep reacting to each other and avoiding the potential submissions is really what made the match. Aside from a few moves that didn't work right, it was really smooth, which made it great to watch. The roughness of the few miscues didn't hurt the match at all because, while it momentarily took down the choreographed aspect, it added some realism since you don't go with your opponent in a shoot unless you are forced to do so to alleviate pressure.

This was definitely a sprint. There wasn't any feeling out or patiently looking for an opening for a submission. Right off the bat they were trying to lock submissions on, but their opponent would always turn, spin, on one occasion even "dance" his way out of trouble. The match was built in the sense that in the beginning all the attempts at submissions were quickly avoided, but as time went on they'd come closer and closer to catching their opponent and advancing to the final of the annual MEGA BATTLE TOURNAMENT.

Han actually caught Yamamoto in an udehishigigyakujujigatame in the center of the ring at 1:45, which was rather early to say the least. This wound up being as close to a comedy spot as you see in RINGS because Yamamoto would shake his body around to try to edge toward the ropes, so Han would grab an appendage and tie him up like a pretzel to make it harder for Yamamoto to slide himself. Yamamoto tried to use one leg to break the lock on his other leg and his arm, so Han tried for a cross heel hold. However, before Han could really lock it in, Yamamoto was able to slide his arm out (Han had to release his hold on the arm to try to grab the ankles, but the arm was still in between Han's legs) and grab the rope with it after sliding a little bit.

"I liked this spot a lot! It looked like Han had it when he got the hold on, but Yamamoto was fighting. This got the crowd cheering, but the cheers quickly turned to 'oh no!'s when Han got a hold of the leg," wrote Gabe.

What really made the match is how quickly they thought and reacted. As soon as one guy tried to apply a submission, the other was rolling or spinning into his own submission or at least getting himself into a position where he could. There were really no advantages in this match because as soon as you seemingly had it, the other guy took it right away from you.

"For this reason, I'm glad it was a sprint. A match cannot have a whole lot of build if no one has a noticeable advantage, and if they went on like that for too long then the match may have become boring," wrote Gabe.

It depends on how no one having a noticeable advantage is done because failure can easily be a perfect set up for success. In this match it kind of went both ways. The failures set up the later success to an extent, but they failed to establish a reason for the success and generally the successes weren't particularly related to the previous failures

There was certainly nothing wrong with the stand up in this match, unless you were Yamamoto because Han accidentally opened up a small cut on his forehead with a series of open hands. That said, you wanted them to stay on the ground because they were working on a level there that few had ever reached.

The finish saw Han put Yamamoto down with a series of shodas. When Yamamoto got up, Han held one hand behind his neck and worked the body with punches and knees until Yamamoto used that arm against Han, taking him over with an ipponzeoi then going right into an udehishigigyakujujigatame. Han was swinging his bottom half all over. Ironically, he got within inches of getting his foot on the bottom rope, but in doing so he had turned over onto his knees in a position where his arm was not only fully extended, but his shoulder was going against the joint as well. Han probably could have held on another second and reached the ropes, but since Yamamoto's foot was in front of his face, he probably had no way of seeing how close he was.

1995 was Yamamoto's biggest year, having lasted close to 20 minutes with Rickson Gracie in one of his first ever shoot matches, as well as having some of the best worked matches in RINGS, not only with the great Han, but also with stiffs like Hans Nyman & Dick Vrij. He appeared to be Maeda's successor, but that required Maeda to put him over a few times, as if. Instead, Maeda beat Yamamoto in the finals and subsequent rematches, and Yamamoto's growth was also stunted by a multitude of injuries. He was really the only one that was negatively affected by Kiyoshi Tamura joining the company because with Tamura being superior in basically every way, he quickly was given/took Yamamoto's spot and, along with Tsuyoshi Kosaka, got to try to carry the company in Maeda's absence without Maeda doing much to get people to consider them as being above him.

This was basically the same style as Han would work with Tamura when he joined the league. Those matches were superior because Tamura has more talent, better athleticism, and quicker reflexes. However, Yamamoto was the first to be able to do this style, which in my opinion is Han's ideal style, with Han. The style would be the biggest reason that this was most likely the best RINGS match up to this point in time, if not for the fact that it was a case where the performers literally made the style.

James: Excellent match. Almost certainly Han's best ever match (at the time) because the only other guy able to work mat style with him then was Maeda, who was past his prime. RINGS really screwed up with Yamamoto in '95. After the Rickson match, they could easily have turned Yamamoto into a star and a draw just by having Maeda job to him a few times. Too bad Maeda took the Hogan route and used Yamamoto's success as a way to put himself over by beating him.

Special thanks to: Gabe Bautista & James Phillips - Japanese Womens Wrestling

10:17

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