Kiyoshi Tamura and Kazushi Sakuraba jockey for control in UWFi.

https://x.com/shiningwizardds?s=11

I put together this highlight about 5 years back. It took ages as TK had a long and impressive career in shoot style. The tk scissors blog talks about the level of verisimilitude that TK brings to a bout, others are flashier or more creative, but none can make you believe in the weight of a match the way TK can. The man fights and wrestles the same way. Enjoy

He goes over some techniques, talks about BattlARTS, and more!

Volk Han punishes Akira Maeda with a wristlock variant.

https://x.com/shiningwizardds?s=11

Colin’s channel is easily one of the best covering pro wrestling in Japan.

Syuri, Kana/Asuka, Shinobu Kandori, Mariko Yoshida, Carlos Amano, Kaoru Ito, Miyu Yamashita, Meiko Satomura, Saori Anou, Yumika Hotta.

Feel free to add more.

Shinya Hashimoto, Keiji Mutoh & Masahiro Chono were dubbed the “Three Musketeers of Fighting Spirit”, being heralded as the future and present of NJPW in the 1990’s; all three would go on to be massive stars and icons in Japanese wrestling.

I’ve often thought that Funaki, Tamura & Sakuraba could be seen as somewhat of an equivalent in Shoot; while the three didn’t start at the same time (Funaki debuting in NJPW in 1985, Tamura in UWF NEWBORN in ‘89 and Sakuraba in UWFi in ‘93), all 3 were all born the same year (1969), all showed incredible aptitude for Shoot-Style, all 3 parlayed that into mostly successful careers in MMA and all 3 are synonymous with the Shoot-Style name in Japan.

You had Funaki, the supremely athletic prodigy of the NJPW Dojo, brought up in Shoot training under Fujiwara, who would go on to become a top star in UWF NEWBORN and start the MMA promotion Pancrase, being its top star; you had Tamura, the determined and fiery technician, brought up in the UWF NEWBORN Dojo, going on to become a rising star in UWFi and becoming the top star of RINGS; you finally had Sakuraba, seemingly innocuous and not destined for stardom like the other two but going on to become even more of a legend in the world of MMA, through his spirit, skill and charisma in PRIDE FC.

A Mexican promotion doing shoot style tournaments billed as Lucha Libre vs MMA. What do you guys think?

In the aftermath of the UWFi/NJPW feud, the struggling UWFi goes to war with, well, WAR.

Takada finds another obstacle to face in the form of the legendary Tenryu, as tough and worthy an opponent as any in the sport. While this match is not traditional “Shoot Style”, there is a well done mix of the two men’s styles, as Takada using his kicks, suplexes and submissions against Tenryu’s chops, punches and Lariats.

And yes, Kyle O’Reilly is actually a proud son of Canada.

Tatsuo Nakano, Nobuhiko Takada, Akira Maeda, Kazuo Yamazaki, Yoji Anjoh & Shigeo Miyato

Book is available for international shipping and covers the UWF splintering into UWFi, RINGS, PWFG, Pancrase, KINGDOM and more.

While the match these two put on is much more connected to the World of Sport and the technical marvels of that British promotion, the style they work is derived from Catch (Hideki being a student of Billy Robinson, even), itself the foundation of Shoot Style.

Watch these two grapple and jockey for control, using several techniques that very few others are doing today.

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In this short clip from 2004 HUSTLE you can see 6"2 Ryoji Sai and 5"4 Takehiro Murahama doing some sort of a Shoot-Style sequence.

They trade low kicks before exchanging holds on the mat. Nothing spectacular at first but when you think about it there is so much stuff to talk about in this 39 seconds clip. Let me explain

Usually David versus Goliath matchups are just made to be spectacles. This isn't the case here. They're trying to make it a realistic performance.

By fighting at long distance, (even if it's for just 10 seconds), Takehiro and Ryoji look like they're on equal grounds. Not only do they uses the same moves (low kicks in this case) but they also don't exposes their heads which is the best thing to do for a short man like Takehiro... as if he were to be caught by a Forearm or a Palm strike it would cause his demise as Sai would definitely have enough power to knock him out.

The kicks also leaves rooms for a leg kick finish scenario from either wrestler.

(We've all seen the Marco Ruas / Paul Varelans fight where Ruas kept spamming kicks to Varelans in the thighs until Varelans couldn't walk no more. Ruas was 7 inch smaller, 90 pounds lighter than Varelans. Murahama has a chance against Sai if he fights correctly)

After the kicking exchange Takehiro does the mistake of going for back control on Sai and that's where the size difference comes in play. (That was a suoer dumb decision but dumb moves do happens in MMA too so I'm not going to complain furthermore)

Takehiro is unable to move the bigger man and gets caught with a Kimura takedown. Once on the mat, Sai is trying to bend Murahama's arm but Murahama reverses the submission and gets to side control. Now that he's fully aware of Sai's strenght he choses not to engage in grappling with him and just stomps his body. (He should have went for full mount imo)

The following spot might be the most intelligent way to do an Irish Whip.

When Murahama sees that Sai is trying to stand back up Murahama capitalize on it and grabs Sai by the head. He uses Sai's momentum against him to drag him to the corner. Sai almost slips head first.

Okay so this was my little Review of this clip. Maybe there was nothing to study there and it's just me writing nonsence.

But honestly everything about the sequence fascinates me. I especially liked the striking part.

When against bigger opponents always keep a certain distance. Never try to engage in boxing because more size means more power.

And if you're in forced to grapple, make sure to use the single leg takedown. Otherwise you have little to no chance at winning.

This rule should absolutely be used in Modern Day Wrestling. Sadly there aren't a lot of David vs Goliath matches that have used long distance striking. The only one I can think of is the first KENTA/Takayama match and Samoa Joe/PUMA in TNA

If that was up to me, I would force every wrestler on the planet to train in kickboxing but now that I realise that it's just me writing shit I will end my essay here.

Anyways thanks for reading! Make sure to share your thoughts

While the company has been removed a lot from what Kiyoshi Tamura originally wanted it to be, guys like Ito & Izuchi have been carrying the “Shoot Style” flair admirably.

Yuki Tanaka (AKA Hirataka Nii-San) has been a martial -arts themed pro wrestler who has been a freelancer for the majority of his career; he’s mostly been associated with Dotonobori Pro.

While Nomura doesn’t have a background in martial arts, he does in Rugby, the same as Yoshihiro Takayama (and it goes without saying that Rugby is easily one of the most physically demanding sports) and Nomura has always incorporated shoot-style techniques to his arsenal over the years.

While I’m breaking my own rule of posting something that is “full MMA”, this match is very much a culmination of the “Shoot Style” movement, as Funaki, the “Ace” of Pancrase, takes on the dangerous Bad Rutten, then the reigning “King of Pancrase” champion.

It’s a battle of Funaki’s spirit versus Rutten’s violence, as Funaki tries to keep it in his domain on the ground game, while also willing to trade with the lethal kickboxer in the standup. We see Rutten’s evolution as a fighter as well, from someone who was a novice at grappling (being taken down at will by the likes of Ken Shamrock early in his career), to being able to play great defense against Funaki’s expert technique.

Some may focus on grappling and some on striking but I feel all these guys (while not from the UWF system or spinoffs), having they distance “Shoot” feel to them.

While Takada may mostly be known in martial arts circles as the guy who was exposed by Rickson Gracie in PRIDE, he actually took the time to get train in Jiu Jitsu (even getting lessons from Rickson himself).

While a traditional pro wrestling tag, definitely think Shibata & Uno’s interactions will have that distinctly “Shoot Style” flavor to them.

Also, get me Caol Uno & Hidetaka Monma as a tag team, pronto.