STARTING OVER 2^nd

June 11, 1988

Tatsuo Nakano . . . works a thirty minute draw, that’s actually not half bad.

Norman Smiley . . . puts on a clinic and looks like the best shoot stylist that we haven’t seen enough of.

Akira Maeda . . . once again defends his Ace position against a young gun.

SHIGEO MIYATO vs. TATSUO NAKANO

One would think a thirty minute draw between these two would be an awful experience, but to their credit, they manage to put together a pretty engaging match. It’s the opposite side of the Fujiwara/Kido spectrum; instead of being two masters of their craft having a methodical chess match, it’s two relative novices seemingly throwing everything that they have at one another. It does make for a lot of, what one might consider to be, downtime, but it works in its own way because when it does finally lead to something, the way the crowd reacts justifies the time put into getting there.

That’s really what the match comes down to, whenever either of them manages to do something big, it’s because they earn it. Miyato spends a good portion of the match terrorizing Nakano with his kicks, but Nakano finally manages to catch one and brings him to the mat and tries to get something on. Similarly, when Nakano starts deflecting and blocking those same kicks, Miyato switches to a low kick that takes him off his feet and goes to a front headlock (you might say that Miyato squeezed and pulled and hurt his neck in 1988 . . .). Nakano wants a juji-gatame and tries using all the leverage he can get and slaps away at Miyato’s hands to break his grip. It takes him a good three minutes to get there, but he’s finally able to get it. A few minutes later, Nakano is trying for another one and he gets it a lot quicker, but Miyato quickly escapes and counters him into a leg bar. The match is literally filled with those sorts of moments, where it seems like they’re just resting, but then it gets paid off. There’s another nice touch when Nakano wants a hip throw and Miyato counters with a backdrop suplex, and Nakano’s pained facial expression looks to be just as much from the embarrassment of letting Miyato outdo him as it does the impact of the suplex itself.

Unfortunately, nothing is resolved here since the match goes to the full time limit. It seemed like Miyato was on the verge of putting Nakano away between the surprise backdrop and the last round of kicks he was pelting him with. Maybe Miyato didn’t yet have enough in him to fully get the job done or maybe Nakano was just too tough to get finished that way. Their later matches, against each other and with others, would lose the sense of urgency that this had, despite the fact that this rivalry would play out over the entirety of this promotion’s run and then continue in U-Inter. But, if nothing else, this first match showed that there seemed to be some potential with these two.

KAZUO YAMAZAKI vs. NORMAN SMILEY

Although it goes half the length, and has a decisive finish, this isn’t all that much different from the previous match. They don’t have a very deep story, which makes sense since they’re still laying the groundwork for what ‘UWF style’ actually is, but there’s a sense of parity between them that never wavers until the bell rings and a winner is determined. The crowd should already be familiar with how lethal Yamazaki’s kicks are, after the beating he laid on Maeda the month before, and Smiley shows some of his own striking skills when he surprises Yamazaki with a punch to the gut and then blasts him with knees in the corner before taking him over in a belly to belly and trying to submit him with a grounded headlock.

If absolutely nothing else, this match does a superb job introducing Smiley to the UWF audience. Both he and Yamazaki pull off some flashy sequences and surprise counters on one another. The crowd is engaged for pretty much the whole time, because they see that either of them is fully capable of turning the tides when the other least expects it. Yamazaki gets out of a waistlock by bending Norman’s arm a bit and looks for a crossface chickenwing, but can’t quite get it fully on, so he switches to a German and Norman hooks his ankles around Yamazaki’s legs so that he can’t get him over. Yamazaki switches again to an armbar takedown, only for Norman to block and sweep Yamazaki’s legs and get a legbar. Yamazaki appeared to have Smiley dead to rights with three different things, but in the end, it was Smiley’s quick thinking that made the difference. Yamazaki’s eventual win is the product of that same sort of quick thinking; he hits a kick to the ribs to stun Smiley and then tries to take him down in the headlock and Smiley quickly flips his body over, but Yamazaki keeps his grip on the arm and Smiley flips himself right into an armbar.

After he’d pushed Maeda to the brink at the debut show, Yamazaki going over here was pretty much a necessity. But it was nice to see that he was all too willing to make Smiley look good while he was at it. As the roster expanded and more and more foreigners came in, Smiley eventually settled into his comfy little midcard spot. But this is a good example of exactly how much he was able to bring to the table.

AKIRA MAEDA vs. NOBUHIKO TAKADA

I suppose it’s fitting that the two preeminent rivalries of the Newborn UWF (Miyato/Nakano and Maeda/Takada) started on the same show. Takada’s premise is no different than it would be in their future matches; to knock Maeda off of his throne. But, the way this match plays out shows exactly how much of this rivalry was spent with the idea of playing the proverbial long game. Takada shows that he can push Maeda and that he can surprise and hurt him, but with only a couple of notable exceptions, he almost never truly puts him in danger. That’s not to say that Maeda doesn’t do his part in making Takada look good. It’s not like this is a twenty-five minute squash match or anything, but when the final bell rings, it’s clear that Takada has what it takes, but isn’t ready yet.

The overall work is fine for the most part; it’s pretty much standard fare shootstyle, with a big emphasis on the usual holds such as the legbar and the single leg crab. What stands out here more than anything is how they show how much further ahead Maeda is. One of the first dangerous holds of the match is the juji-gatame. It takes Maeda a little bit of time, but he methodically works his way into getting it locked in, and Takada yells and flails to the ropes. A bit later, it’s Takada who’s able to get the hold on, and Maeda quickly gets his hands clasped to stop the pressure, and after a minute he decides to just use the ropes to get a break. Maeda wasn’t in any imminent trouble at that moment, but he chooses to just play it safe rather than risking Takada breaking his grip and being unable to get it back. They even go the extra mile to hammer home Maeda’s top spot by working the same finishing sequence as Yamazaki and Smiley, only with Maeda able to withstand the armbar and make the ropes. Maeda’s first Capture suplex comes when Takada telegraphs a kick and Maeda catches it and takes him right over in it.

Again, they don’t establish Maeda’s spot at the expense of Takada’s credibility. He shows that he’s more than capable of hanging in there with Maeda and trading licks with him. He may only get a couple of chances to truly look like he’s able to beat him, but they make them count. Once Maeda’s leg becomes a target after an extended legbar and series of low kicks, Maeda’s selling is superb, at one point he can barely even stand on that leg. Takada’s first couple of knockdowns seem almost as much due to luck as anything else, Maeda’s reaction looks more like he lost his balance, but as the match wears on and Takada keeps fighting, he lands quite a few nasty shots that easily looked like they could have put Maeda’s lights out.

More than anything else, the finish looks like it comes about because Takada simply ran out of things to do. While Maeda’s trying to bust out some new things to put Takada away, including a crossface chickenwing, Takada is working the same holds and throwing the same kicks that didn’t get him anywhere ten minutes ago. Maeda recognizes this as well and starts baiting Takada into unwittingly giving him openings. Takada wants the legbar and Maeda easily escapes the hold and segues into taking Takada over with a big suplex. He gets Takada into a strike exchange and then when Takada throws a kick, Maeda takes his other leg out from underneath him. Takada goes for broke with the spinning kick and Maeda snags his leg and seemingly tries the single leg crab, knowing exactly how Takada will try to escape. Takada does and it opens him up to a German suplex rolled into a sleeper hold that finally allows Maeda to slam the door in his face. It would take a little more time, experience and working with some of the best wrestlers in the world at this style, but Takada would eventually blast the door right off the hinges.

Conclusion: Another very fun, albeit short, show from the early days of the Newborn UWF. Maeda, Takada and Yamazaki would all do much better, but this is a great look at their positions and how quickly their respective roles were established.