UWF-I 1995 DVD
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UWF-I Pro-Wrestling Sekai Heavykyu Senshukenjiai Super Vader vs. Gary Albright Commercial Tape 1/16/95 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
-2hr 15min. Q=VG/Ex. 2 DVDs

Standing Bout: Goon Yutacyai (?) vs. Rodney Blockfield

Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Kenichi Yamamoto. Kanehara absolutely destroys Yamamoto in standup. Enjoyable, but just too quick and onesided to be that great of a match. *1/2

Tom Burton vs. Yoshihiro Takayama. *

Tatsuo Nakano vs. Bad News Allen. 1/4*

Yoji Anjo & Masahito Kakihara vs. Naoki Sano & Kazushi Sakuraba. Good action here. Much faster paced than the previous bouts, just constant movement. Kakihara was, not surprisingly, the best of the bunch. ***1/2

Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Gene Lydick. Excellent technical match, but it just kind of ended about 5 minutes sooner than I wanted it to. ***1/2

Nobuhiko Takada & Billy Scott vs. Kazuo Yamazaki & James Stone (Little Guido). Don't blink.

Pro Wrestling Sekai Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Super Vader vs. Gary Albright. As is usually the case when two monsters collide, the match isn't too good because you realize just how important their smaller opponents are when it comes to taking the big bumps to get them over and make their matches work. They did some brawling and some wrestling, but their size negated each other so they never wound up delivering most of the big moves they teased. Adequate, but hardly the quality you expect from a "dream match." **

UWF-I SAKIGAKE Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki, Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Masahito Kakihara Commercial Tape 2/18/95 Tokyo Bay NK Hall
-1hr 25min. Q=Master

Tatsuo Nakano vs. Kenichi Yamamoto

Thomas Burton vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara

Yoshihiro Takayama vs. James Stone

Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Yoji Anjo

Billy Scott vs. Yuko Miyato

Gene Lydick vs. Naoki Sano

Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Masahito Kakihara

Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki

UWF-I Pro-Wrestling Heavykyu Senshukenjiai Super Vader vs. Nobuhiko Takada 4/20/95 Nagoya Sogo Taiikukan Rainbow Hall
-2hr 15min. Q=Master. 2 DVDs

Kenichi Yamamoto vs. Thomas Burton. Kind of a dull match. Burton didn't give the young punk much respect, which I kind of liked Yamamoto always struck me as a guy who thought he was the shit even though he'd almost never done anything of note. Burton didn't have to use his best moves to win this one, which obviously didn't help. *1/4

Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. James Stone (Little Guido). Kind of short and one-sided, but Kanehara always puts on a good show. The mat work was impressive, but Stone's overexaggerated selling hurt the standup segments a good deal. **1/4

Yuko Miyato vs. Gene Lydick. Lydick is a lot bigger and the better wrestler. It was short and he controlled the whole match. Disappointing. *1/2

Yoji Anjo vs. Tatsuo Nakano. These guys have fought so many times over the years and generally their matches are good, but this one didn't go anywhere. Essentially nothing happened but then there were a few strikes and a submission out of nowhere.

Kiyoshi Tamura & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Kazuo Yamazaki & Yoshihiro Takayama. Good technical match. It was one of those matches though where things are well done, but there aren't a lot of highlights. Nobody really stepped up their game. Even Takayama didn't look bad with these guys though. **1/2

Masahito Kakihara vs. Naoki Sano. Smart match. It was always interesting, but they didn't have to take much abuse. They did a lot of striking, particularly Kakihara, but they were blocking most everything. It wasn't just standup though, there was also nice movement on the mat. ***

Gary Albright vs. Billy Scott. Albright kept Scott in his clutches and threw him around when it could. This made the match alright to watch even though it was totally one-sided. The match was designed to rebuild Albright for his next big job (to Kakihara), and it succeeded well enough in that regard although the problem is it's not like anyone would think Scott could take Albright. Scott is way too small to wrestle with Albright and doesn't have the standup skills to do much there even though that's also a weakness of Albright's. *1/2

Pro-Wrestling Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Super Vader vs. Nobuhiko Takada. This wasn't as good as their 8/18/94 match, but it was smarter and also great. Takada used his speed & mobility to stay out of Vader's clutches and get his shots in when he could. He focused his attack on the left side of Vader's body. In particular, he used low kicks to Vader's left leg to chop him down like a tree. The strategy was simply, take away his power by relegating his base useless and go right for the udehishigigyakujujigatame when the giant crumbled to the canvas. On the other hand, Vader tried to cut off the ring. He wanted to grab Takada or push him back into the ropes/corner where he could manhandle him. Again, this wasn't a true UWF-I match, but Vader comes off so big and strong that his massive chokeslams and powerbombs aren't too unbelievable. Once again, the match was extremely high impact. Takada did a very good job of bumping for Vader, while Vader was impressive putting over the damage of Takada's low kicks. The match was all action, but the psychology was excellent in part because they did a match that maximized the abilities of both performers. The Vader vs. Takada series is one of the big reasons I always felt that UWF-I title matches were the best when it came to aura. They always had a great pre match, but they way the guys fought and intensity they brought always made the title seem so coveted. Vader showed his respect for the title and the legends that believed in it before the match, but at the same time he never considered doing anything less than whatever it was going to take to beat his opponent and keep the title. In a way, his cheating almost showed a respect for the belt and his opponent because in a match of lesser magnitude he would simply run over a poor sap without having to resort to any shortcuts. My only problem with this match was the finish. The KO blow just wasn't very credible. I wish Vader got back up and they did a little more before going back to the same or a similar strike for the finish. It was a very anticlimactic way to end such a quality series, but I guess it was fitting of the way things were going for UWF-I at the time. ****1/2

UWF-I SAKIGAKE Nobuhiko Takada vs. Joe Malenko, Gary Albright vs. Masahito Kakihara Commercial Tape 5/17/95 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
-2hr 20min. Q=Master. 2 DVDs

Kenichi Yamamoto vs. James Stone. Decent opener. Yamamoto actually showed some potential even though he tended to get out of control. He got Stone really good with an errant spinning high kick. His enzuigiri was nice. Stone's selling was too exaggerated for this style. *3/4

Hiromitsu Kanehara & Tom Burton vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Kazushi Sakuraba. Kanehara & Sakuraba worked well together as expected. Kanehara only did striking with Takayama, so it was passable. Takayama did decently throwing knees, but couldn't do anything else right. Burton was solid. **1/2

Tatsuo Nakano vs. Gene Lydick. I thought this could be good, but they didn't work well together and the match was lifeless. Lydick looked pretty good except when he had to fall to the mat. Nakano wasn't particularly giving, so the match never turned into anything. *1/2

Naoki Sano & Billy Scott vs. Yoji Anjo & Yuko Miyato. More spectacular than the previous matches, largely due to Anjo. It wasn't as realistic, but when it comes to UWF-I excitement over realism is a tradeoff that you don't mind. Scott was a kicking bag, especially for Anjo. Sano's team was getting slaughted early due to Scott, but it wound up going down to the wire. Lots of nice kicks and suplexes. Everyone did a good job. ***1/4

Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Kiyoshi Tamura. Tamura's execution was easily the best on this show. He brought a precision and intensity that was peerless. They showed a lot of respect for their opponent's abilities, so neither man rushed into anything. The match was technically excellent, but very much toward the realistic side so there were barely any UWF-I highspots. The match was good and the best on the show, but I expected something more dramatic. ***1/4

Gary Albright vs. Masahito Kakihara. Albright neutralized Kakihara's kicks by grabbing him immediately and only releasing after he'd driven him into the mat with a suplex. With his amateur background, Albright had little problem outwrestling Kakihara. Kakihara did a great enzuigiri just after 10, but Albright charged right at him as soon as he got up and used knees to set up a suplex that almost knocked Kakihara out and left him down to his last point. With Kakihara still reeling, Albright charged in and tried to do the same thing, but this time Kakihara turned the German suplex into a kneebar for the submission. The win showed Kakihara's resourcefulness and set him up for the big main event with Takada, while keeping Albright strong by having him dominate the whole match. Too bad they waited until the promotion was almost dead to build a new native up to the point where he could have a big match with Takada, and did it in a fashion where it seemed like his only chance against Takada was a fluke. ***

Nobuhiko Takada vs. Joe Malenko. I don't know what these guys were thinking, but for some reason this was all on the mat. In over 21 minutes we didn't see one strike land in standup. Instead, one guy would lay on top and work over the arm. The match wasn't technically bad, but it was pretty damn boring. *1/2

THE UWF Spirits Nobuhiko Takada vs. Masahito Kakihara, Gary Albright vs. Kiyoshi Tamura
Commercial Tape 6/18/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
-2hr 5min. Q=Master

Kenichi Yamamoto vs. Steve Nelson

Kazushi Sakuraba vs. James Stone

Hiromitsu Kanehara & Billy Scott vs. Tatsuo Nakano & Jean Lydick

Joe Malenko vs. Yuko Miyato

Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Yoshihiro Takayama

Naoki Sano vs. Yoji Anjo

Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Gary Albright

Nobuhiko Takada vs. Masahito Kakihara

UWF-I THE UWF SPIRITS (II) Commercial Tape 7/13/95 Shizuoka Sangyokan
-1hr 25min. Q=Near Perfect

Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Kenichi Yamamoto

Tatsuo Nakano vs. Steve Nelson

Yoji Anjo & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara & Masahito Kakihara

Naoki Sano vs. James Stone

Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Joe Malenko 18:14

UWF-I THE UWF SPIRITS (III) Commercial Tape 7/22/95 Fukuoka Hakata Starlanes
-1hr 25min. Q=Near Perfect

Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Kenichi Yamamoto.

Steve Nelson vs. James Stone.

Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Tatsuo Nakano.

Naoki Sano & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Joe Malenko & Yoji Anjo.

Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Masahito Kakihara 6:20

UWF-I THE UWF SPIRITS (IV) Commercial Tape 8/18/95 Tokyo Bay NK Hall
-1hr 30min. Q=Near Perfect

Kenichi Yamamoto vs. Tom Burton

Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Kazushi Sakuraba

Naoki Sano vs. Yoshihiro Takayama

Masahito Kakihara vs. Yoji Anjo

Nobuhiko Takada vs. Tatsuo Nakano

Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Gary Albright 6:24

UWF-I vs. NEW JAPAN ALL-OUT CONTEND BATTLE 1 Commercial Tape 10/11/95 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
-1hr 25min. Q=Master

Hiromitsu Kanehara & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Tokimitsu Ishizawa (Kashin) & Tadao Yasuda (NJ team)

Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Kenichi Yamamoto

Billy Scott vs. Naoki Sano

Tatsuo Nakano vs. Kensuke Sasaki (NJ)

Yoji Anjo & Masahito Kakihara vs. Riki Choshu & Yuji Nagata

UWF-I vs. NEW JAPAN All Out War DVD Vol 1 & 2 10/11/95-9/11/96
-6hr 30min. Q=Perfect. 4 DVDs

10/11/95 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan

Hiromitsu Kanehara & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Tokimitsu Ishizawa (Kashin) & Tadao Yasuda

Yoji Anjo & Masahito Kakihara vs. Riki Choshu & Yuji Nagata

10/28/95 Tokyo Kokuritsu Yoyogi Kyogijo Dai-nitaiikukan

Kenichi Yamamoto vs. Shinjiro Otani

Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa

Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Koji Kanemoto

Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Kensuke Sasaki

Masahito Kakihara & Tatsuo Nakano vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Akira Nogami

Yoji Anjo vs. Masa Chono

11/25/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

Tatsuo Nakano vs. Riki Choshu

Yoji Anjo & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan

3/1/96 Tokyo Nippon Budokan

Yoji Anjo & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Kazuo Yamazaki & Takayuki Iizuka

Yuhi Sano vs. Keiji Muto

IWGP Heavyweight Title: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka

3/23/96 Sendai Miyagi-ken Sports Center

Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Kengo Kimura

Masahito Kakihara vs. Akitoshi Saito

Yoji Anjo & Kenichi Yamamoto vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi & Akira Nogami

Nobuhiko Takada & Yuhi Sano vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Michiyoshi Ohara

4/19/96 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan

Tokimitsu Ishizawa vs. Kazushi Sakuraba 6:39

Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa

Masahito Kakihara vs. Yuji Nagata

Kensuke Sasaki & Riki Choshu vs. Nobuhiko Takada & Hiromitsu Kanehara

5/27/96 Tokyo Nippon Budokan

Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Akira Nogami

Masahito Kakihara vs. Shiro Koshinaka

6/26/96 Nagoya Rainbow Hall: Nobuhiko Takada & Masahito Kakihara vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Yoshiaki Fujiwara

9/11/96 Tokyo Jingu Stadium

Kensuke Sasaki vs. Masahito Kakihara 8:43

Shinya Hashimoto vs. Yuhi Sano 11:00

UWF-I vs. NEW JAPAN ALL-OUT CONTEND BATTLE 2 October 28, 1995 TOKYO BOUT Commercial Tape 10/28/95 Tokyo Kokuritsu Yoyogi Kyogijo Dai-nitaiikukan
-1hr 55min. Q=Gd-VG

Kenichi Yamamoto vs. Shinjiro Otani (NJ)

Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa (NJ)

Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Koji Kanemoto (NJ)

Naoki Sano vs. Hiro Saito (NJ)

Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Kensuke Sasaki (NJ)

Masahito Kakihara & Tatsuo Nakano vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Akira Nogami (NJ)

Yoji Anjo vs. Masa Chono (NJ)

UWF-I vs. NEW JAPAN ALL-OUT CONTEND BATTLE 3 Commercial Tape 11/25/95 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
-1hr 40min. Q=Master

Kenichi Yamamoto vs. James Stone

Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Billy Scott

Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Takashi Iizuka

Naoki Sano vs. Tokimitsu Ishizawa

Tatsuo Nakano vs. Riki Choshu

Masahito Kakihara vs. Tadao Yasuda

Yoji Anjo & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan

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