wrestling / Video Reviews
Furious Flashbacks: IGF Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2014
Loading...IGF Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2014
31st December 2014.
We’re in Tokyo, Japan at the Ryogoku. The attendance is a stunning 8,550, thus proving Inoki can still draw with his half-baked ideas and strange concepts. This entire show is cut in half. The first half is all pro-wrestling matches, the second half is all MMA fights. I’m not sure I really understand the point of that and it certainly wouldn’t work in any other country in the world but here it is, for your pleasure.
Keisuke Okuda vs. Shogun Okamoto
The problem Inoki has with running so few shows (this is the 6th show of 2014, two of which were in North Korea) is it makes it hard to attract talent to work on them. Which is why most of the guys who do used to be shootfighters, or in many cases, still are. Or they’re just nobodies, like these two. Okamoto is a fat guy with a chinstrap beard who beat Bob Sapp way back at IGF Genome 18. He completely ignores everything Okuda does. I don’t mean ‘no-sell’ either. He just ignores him. It looks suspiciously like Okuda has never wrestled before in his life. Like they dragged him off the street and promised him some sushi if he lasted longer than a minute. Okamoto beats him, in humiliating fashion, in two. Okamoto got to look like a beast but this was a squash and nothing more.
Final Rating: SQUASH
Daichi Hashimoto vs. Super Tiger
I feel really bad for Daichi, who’s Shinya Hashimoto’s son, as I’ve seen him work and he’s got a decent kick-heavy style. Signing for IGF seemed like a strange move at the time and I can’t say I understand his thinking. I’m assuming Inoki just paid him a shit-load of money. Super Tiger is the same guy who works for Sayama in Real Japan. Which means this is a match between two guys who I’ve seen wrestle before. Stranger things have happened. Daichi has blue hair this evening, which makes him look like a teenage punk (he’s 22). They have a shoot-style match with lots of circling and body kicks. Super Tiger is a MOTHERFUCKER. He laces those kicks in and throws knees into Daichi’s face. He makes Daichi earn his spot on this card. Super Tiger, being a silly son of a bitch, is wearing his mask, which Daichi has a pop at turning around before being admonished by the referee. Why? If he’s stupid enough to wear that thing to a fight then he deserves for it to work against him. Daichi has a solid enough style. He can hit high spots and kicks. He should get work in Real Japan for seasoning. He’s on a par with Super Tiger here, at least until Super Tiger wins with a high kick and “Eye of the Tiger” immediately kicks in with Daichi unconscious. This was ok because I like seeing two guys kick the crap out of each other but it hardly had time to develop beyond that.
Final Rating: **1/2
Classic Kid vs. Wang Bin
These are joke names, right? Classic Kid isn’t particularly imaginative. His alter ego? “Craig”. Craig. Hey, no wonder he spruced that one up. I might have seen him wrestle before but I’ve just blocked it out. He’s not a thriller. He looks what you’d get if you typed “generic Indy cruiserweight” into Google. He’s also tiny. Wang Bin is a new one on me. He looks calm (and ready to drop bombs). He’s also a foot taller than poor Craig. Wang looks a bit confused as Classic unloads with forearms and he takes a beating for a minute until Wang Bin discovers he can fight back. The crowd enjoys this. Is he North Korean? Chinese? Bin puts Classic Kid away with a fisherman buster in 2 minutes flat. This came across as a showcase and not a good one either.
Final Rating: SQUASH
Atsushi Sawada vs. Montanha Silva
Montanha Silva is a regular giant of a man. You can see why Inoki is booking him. He has elements of circus freakshow about him. Sawada is a career IGF guy who’s into judo. He looks like a child, nay an ant, standing next to Silva. The worrying thing is he’s 5’11”. Silva is over 7’ tall. I hope Vince McMahon is watching. It’d be hilarious to watch this guy stink up the WWE. He has a vague idea what he’s doing, which includes kicking, punching and stamping on Sawada, who honestly looks terrified by the prospect of wresting this freak. I don’t think Silva understands the rules. It’s like he’s seen Shibata work and decided *that* is going to be his style. It’s terrifying. He’s all limbs. Are you sure you’d not be happier playing basketball? Sawada leans on his throat until Silva gives up. Well, he doesn’t but when the ref asks him if he wants to quit he says “yes, yes I do”. Then he throws a few wild haymakers at anyone that’s left in the ring, ref included. Silva is an interesting attraction and worth a few chuckles. I’ve seen worse big men (Giant Silva springs to mind) but Montanha has a lot of rough edges.
Final Rating: ¼*
Josh Barnett & Naoya Ogawa vs. Kazuyuki Fujita & Minowaman
This is the main event of the wrestling portion of the show. Barnett is an MMA guy with a good record. Ogawa you might remember from Hustle where he was one of the stars. He was also an ace in judo. Minowaman is an MMA guy with over 100 fights. Fujita, I’m never quite sure whether to describe him as an MMA guy or a pro-wrestler. Seeing as he’s not won an MMA fight since 2008, I guess he’s a pro-wrestler. He used to work for New Japan. Hell, he had the IWGP title 3 times. That was pre-Tanahashi modern era so it almost doesn’t count. New Japan went through a thoroughly shitty spell as a professional wrestling business and Fujita’s title runs were in it. The rest of the pro-wrestling part of the card is rushed but this match is 15 minutes long. Mostly because it takes Ogawa and Fujita an age to even think about locking up. The whole process reminds me of New Japan before it was rescued from painful mediocrity by the glory of Hiroshi Tanahashi. Apart from Minowaman putting a whupping on Ogawa’s hammy. That’s all cheddar. Meanwhile Josh Barnett does not take this even remotely seriously. He thinks it’ll be fun to muck about with Minowaman. Credit to Minowaman, he sells superbly well and seems to be the driving force behind all that’s good in the match. So Barnett and Ogawa take it in turns to kick the shit out of him and it’s quite enjoyable. Minowaman sells the beating like he has a broken leg from the abuse. His attacks are less entertaining but when he’s taking a shoeing, he’s the most entertaining man in the match. He is hilariously bad on offence though and misses a fist/knee drop that’s comically bad. They forego the hot tag and just have Ogawa hit the STO for the win. Well, that was unexpected. Not much in the way of talent or effort in this one. Or logic. I enjoyed watching Minowaman getting an almighty kicking though.
Final Rating: **
Bob Sapp vs. Aztecaser
Hoping to build on the success of Jushin Liger, Aztecaser is an animated superhero, who happens to be a wrestler. Obviously he’s not animated here, or we’d have some serious Roger Rabbit shit going on. Actually, that’d be awesome. Booking Sapp against him shows what an absolute joke the former IWGP champion is. As if the match isn’t bad enough they have communication issues, with Aztecaser mishearing a call to get his feet up despite Sapp virtually yelling it at him. Someone call Maffew at Botchamania, he would straight up love this shit. Aztecaser also fails to jump a few times, meaning Sapp basically wrestles and eventually pins himself with a “sunset flip”. This was a disaster. It was probably deliberately silly but the whole thing was a clusterfuck. Genuinely the worst match of 2014.
Final Rating: -****
We now enter into the MMA section of the card. Seeing as I’ve never covered MMA before I’ll give it a go but don’t expect too much background.
Ryo Sakai vs. Yusuke Masuda
Ok, so thanks to Sherdog I can tell you the careers of these guys. Sakai is 3-3 but has won his last two fights, both in IGF. He’s a bit chubby. Masuda has a longer career in MMA and is 5-11. He immediately looks the more composed of the two as Sakai seems reluctant to come after him. Masuda controls the fight, backs Sakai into a corner and unloads on him. He doesn’t get anything meaty enough to approach a stoppage but Sakai seems to have no response. After being stood back up Sakai shows a little fire, going after leg kicks but his technique, especially in punching, is woeful. Masuda takes him down again. The only beacon of hope for Sakai is that he catches Masuda going for a third takedown in a front chancery but can’t lock it in, presumably because his arms are too fat and Masuda gets out. Round 1 over and Masuda clearly won it.
R2 starts much the same as Round 1 went with Masuda taking Sakai down. They stay there for ages before being stood back up. This is where Sakai goes completely nuts and tries for high kicks and spinning backfists. Sakai finally gets going with some knees and some ineffective hammerfists. If he’d landed with one of the knees it might have been over. Masuda finds himself struggling and Sakai surprisingly bosses him for the last few minutes of the fight. Masuda is literally clinging on having lost all control. Although he spent half the round stuck on the mat Sakai was clearly the aggressor toward the end and you probably have to give the round to him. Seeing as this is only a two round fight this leaves the judges with a difficult decision. They end up plumping for Masuda in a split decision. He did boss three quarters of the fight so I’m not surprised but Sakai almost got the duke with knees toward the finish.
Winner: Yusuke Masuda (Split Decision)
Kiuma Kunioku vs. Ramazan Esenbaev
Kunioku is extremely experienced and has a 34-24 record. He’s been fighting since 1996. Esenbaev is a young Russian fighter. He’s 7-1 and the pre-match highlights package feature the bearded pugilist beating people up. The Russian is the immediate aggressor in this one but the first observation is the improvement in standard from the last fight. These two have better movement, stance, defence and technique. The last fight was amateur hour but this feels closer to the big leagues. Esenbaev is the better fighter and takes Kunioku down before catching him with a couple of BIIIG punches. Kunioku comes firing back and for a moment it’s a stellar fight until Esenbaev recognises the threat and takes it back to the mat. Esenbaev is a strange fighter as he seems eager to take it to the mat but then has nothing to finish when they get there. It reminds me a lot of Brock Lesnar in his early fights. When they’re standing up the fight is a lot closer but a lot more exciting too with both guys landing shots. Round 1 over with Kunioku having a bloody nose and Esenbaev generally controlling the pace. Both guys landed during the stand up though. I’d give Esenbaev the round.
Round 2 is more tentative. Neither man wants to commit and Esenbaev must feel he did enough in Round 1 to win the fight as he backs Kunioku into the corner and stays there. Things go from bad to worse with an untidy Esenbaev takedown, which results in an ugly dead-lock as neither guy can do anything. The ref eventually gets bored and stands them up, which is easily the best rule change in MMA history. I recall a lot of early MMA fights getting stuck in holds for extended periods of boredom. The fight drifts from there into nothing and the bell rings. That’s it. A nothing second round. Esenbaev won the first so he wins the fight.
Winner: Ramazan Esenbaev (Unanimous Decision)
Crusher Kawaguchi vs. Justin Willis
Willis is a kick-boxer from San Jose. This is only his 3rd fight but he’s 290lbs, which means he’s got about 40lbs on Kawaguchi. “Crusher” is 15-9 career. He looks like Masato Tanaka only softer. When they get their instructions Willis looks scary. His upper body is so thick, he must have a big power advantage. Crusher can’t move him around and instead opts for leg kicks. Willis catches him with a big punch in the corner, which bloodies Crusher’s nose. When he’s stood up Crusher staggers backwards across the ring and that’ll do it. Willis didn’t really land his punches all that clean but when he’s got that much power it doesn’t matter. I feel bad for Crusher because he’s a heavyweight and Willis is blatantly a super heavyweight. Life isn’t fair.
Winner: Justin Willis (R1: TKO)
Shinya Aoki vs. Yuki Yamamoto
Aoki, at 31, has an impressive 36-6 record. Yamamoto is 6-6 and a little shorter than Aoki. Half his losses have been by submission and all of those submissions were chokes. Aoki has 24 submission victories. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out where this is going. Aoki goes after takedowns from the off only to find Yamamoto’s D is quite good, until he gives up his back. No wonder this guy gets choked out! Yamamoto tries to roll out of it, gets his legs trapped and submits to a Twister. No surprises there. Aoki acts like a total asshole after the fight, dancing around the ring and ignoring Yamamoto completely as if the other fighter is beneath him. Which he is but you don’t have to be a dick about it.
Winner: Shinya Aoki (R1: Submission)
Chris Barnett vs. Shinichi Suzukawa
Barnett is 11-1 with 9 KO wins. Suzukawa is 1-2 but one of his losses was Cro Cop so that hardly counts. His one win was against Minowaman, a journeyman fighter who was in a tag match earlier. There are circumstances behind that though as Suzukawa is much, much heavier than Minowaman. He’s over 6’ and 280lbs. Barnett is even bigger though and is 330lbs. His nickname is Huggy Bear. That’s adorable. He looks like a fat Mark Henry. This fight is frantic. It’s everything you want from MMA as both guys come out swinging. Barnett gets cut in the process and bleeds all over Suzukawa. The cut is so bad it requires treatment. It looked like a clash of heads. The spectacular start can’t carry on and Barnett uses his weight to pin Suzukawa down. Suzukawa has no response whatsoever as heavy hands come raining down on him and Barnett wins. Barnett celebrates by doing flips and handstands after the fight. I can see why Inoki likes him.
Winner: Chris Barnett (R1: TKO)
IGF Championship:
Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic (c) vs. Satoshi Ishii
Cro Cop has the experience. He’s 29-11 and he’s fought in the UFC. Ishii is 12-3 but lost this title belt to Cro Cop three months ago. They start out tentatively but that’s because they’re the best fighters on the show. No one wants to lose the big one. Ishii’s trainers in particular seem frustrated as you can hear them yelling “HIGH KICKUH, HIGH KICKUH” as they circle. Ishii has different ideas and gets a takedown. It’s a polite struggle as Cro Cop gets poked in the eye and you can hear Ishii apologise. See, Shinya Aoki, you don’t have to be an asshole to be successful. Cro Cop is too good to get caught with anything and just holds Ishii in place. So the round goes to Ishii, by means of the only takedown, but nothing else happens.
R2 starts with Ishii’s trainers again screaming for “HIGH KICKUH, HIGH KICKUH”. Is it a warning or a request? Ishii grabs a single leg and it’s back to the mat where they spent the entire first round. IGF’s most frustrating occurrence is the ref moving the fighters when they’re down near the ropes. Just stand them up. Cro Cop gets himself back up and lands a high kick. It was a warning! Ishii blocks most of it. Ishii gets tagged with a couple of a punches and rocked by a high kick, which leaves him flat on his back as Round 2 ends. Seeing as Ishii is knocked out this ends the fight. Should have listened to that trainer! HIGH KICKUH!
Winner: Mirko Filipovic (R2: TKO)
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