Into the Indies 05.11.10: Sanshiro & Sawa’s Excellent Adventure

Banner Courtesy of John Meehan

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Into the Indies, the column that loves the Wyld Stallions.

This week, we focus our attention on two men who are no strangers to this column. The first is Sanshiro Takagi, a fifteen year veteran of the independent professional wrestling scene who is perhaps best known as being the founder and one of the top stars of Japan’s Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) promotion. Takagi, who is currently doing a gimmick in which he wears a vest and pulls out stunners similar to Stone Cold Steve Austin, has had a hand in creating some of the greatest indy stars of the last decade, including Poison Sawada JULIE, Kota Ibushi, and many more. The second man we are focusing on this weekend appears to be one of Takagi’s latest pet projects, Munenori Sawa. Sawa, a thirty-one year old wrestler with six years experience, was originally trained by shoot-style pro wrestling promotion BattlArts, though he has almost never wrestled exclusively for that company. Within the past eighteen months, he has been one of the true breakout stars of independent wrestling, doing shots with ZERO1 and DDT in addition to stepping up to the big leagues for guest shots with New Japan and taking a trip overseas to compete in Gabe Sapolsky’s new EVOLVE promotion.

As previously alluded to, one of Sawa’s biggest advocates is Takagi. As part of a project to turn Munenori in to an even bigger star, Takagi decided that a title run in DDT was in order, and, as a result, the two men teamed up to defeat long reigning champions KUDO and Yasu Urano to win DDT’s KO-D Tag Team Titles on February 11, 2010. However, simply winning the titles wasn’t good enough for Takagi and Sawa. They quickly decided that they were going to take the championships on the road, engaging in one of the most unique series of title defenses in professional wrestling history. The KO-D Tag Champions got themselves booked on a tour of three otherwise unrelated independent shows even smaller than those promoted by DDT, defending their belts against a multitude of relatively obscure competitors across those shows.

The first of the defenses came at a stand-alone show promoted in conjunction with the Miyaji Iron Works, a factory in Tokyo focused on casting and shaping iron into various products. Rather than simply having a match for the titles in a ring set up in the factory as one might expect, the powers that be behind this match decided that Sawa, Takagi, and their opponents would have a match in the factory with no ring, brawling around the iron works in a no holds barred, falls count anywhere style match, using anything found on Miyaji’s property to inflict pain on the opposing team. And who would be opposing Sawa and Takagi in this particular contest? It would be the duo of Michael Nakazawa and GENTARO, the former man a regular competitor in DDT and the latter being a long-time independent wrestler, going all the way back to the dying days of FMW.

Title defense number two would take place in nKw3 on March 27, 2010 against Kim Yotsugi and Hitori Gundan. In a way, this is the most captivating of the title matches for me, because, quite frankly, I have never heard of nKw3, Yotsugi, or Gundan and have been able to find literally zero information about them. Based on the setup for the match, which is a very small, apparently homemade “ring” constructed in what appears to be the middle of a public park, my working assumption is that the wrestlers come from the Japanese equivalent of a backyard wrestling group.

The final defense took place in a promotion that I have long admired for its name if nothing else. The group is known as FU*CK. That’s right, FU*CK, which stands for “Fighting Ultimate Crazy Kings.” If that’s not the greatest name for a professional wrestling promotion in history, I don’t know what is. FU*CK generally runs in front of crowds that are made up of less than fifty viewers, and, despite this fact, they have managed to continuously promote cards for right arond a decade now. The promotion’s shows generally contain no wrestlers of note whatsoever, aside from the occasional guest appearance by somebody on the level of Takagi and Sawa, who on this tour went up against FU*CK’s Great Kayser and Hiroaki Moriya.

Fortunately for those of us who are professional wrestling fans that also love iron, parks, and FU*CKing, DDT cameras were following Sanshiro and Sawa for their entire excellent adventure, with the three matches then being edited together to form Episode 269 of DDT’s regular television show, Dramatica Fantastica.

Let’s take a look at this offbeat trifecta of matches.

Match Numero Uno: Sanshiro Takagi & Munenori Sawa (c) vs. GENTARO & Michael Nakazawa for the KO-D Tag Team Titles in a falls count anywhere match (Miyaji Iron Works Pro Wrestling, 03/12/2010)

As previously mentioned, we’re not even putting up the pretense of having a ring here, though all four wrestlers are wearing hard hats for safety’s sake. Sawa and GENTARO start the match and do some headlock reversals, with the more experienced wrestler getting the early advantage. G also gets a drop toe hold on the pavement and uses it to apply a leglock . . . causing Sawa to grab the invisible “ropes” for a break of the hold, which the referee actually forces. Confounded, GENTARO brings in Nakazawa as Sawa brings in Takagi. They ram their hard hats into one another much like two warring goats, at least until Takagi gets the bright idea to pull Michael’s helmet off of him before giving him a headbutt. Nakazawa is also slammed down on to the concrete before Sanshiro climbs up to the top of a large cabinet. Rather than doing a missile dropkick off of the furniture, he simply jumps off of it, lands on his feet, and then does a regular dropkick. He comes up selling his leg, though, giving the challenger an opportunity to work the limb over with his hard hat and his forehead. GENTARO joins Nakazawa for some double teaming, but their attempt to whip Takagi into the cabinet fails, and Nakazawa winds up eating the metal. Now this is where things really break down, as all four men begin brawling at various parts of the factory. The production crew is kind enough to periodically give us picture-within-picture shots, but for the most part there are so many weird cuts back and forth that it’s going to be hard to call this one as a cohesive match. Nakazawa and Takagi duel with lead pipes, while Sawa and GENTARO put on heavy work gloves and take turns hitting each other in the face. Eventually the wrestlers come across what I am assuming is a vat of heated sand, as they start to throw it at one another, with each one selling it as though he’s being burned.

After a while, the sand is everywhere, with Sawa getting the bright idea that he’s going to grab a conveniently located broom and SWEEP it into his opponent’s faces. GENTARO gets Takagi in a sharpshooter in the middle of a pile of sand for a while, but that’s broken up quickly and we have more generic brawling. The broom is used as a more conventional weapon when it winds up in GENTARO’s hands, as he’s more interested in using it to strike his opponents over the head than he is in sweeping things up into their faces. Meanwhile, Sawa has Nakazawa pressed up against a wall and manages to give him a handspring elbow and then a FACEBUSTER onto the concrete floor. Elsewhere, GENTARO tries to piledrive Takagi on to a pile of metal pipes, but it’s reversed into a backdrop. Then we go back to the metal cabinet from earlier in the match, with Nakazawa taking an insane somersault bump into it while, in the background, GENTARO gives Sawa a dragon screw and puts him in the figure four. The BattlARTS alumnus is quick to reverse the hold, but GENTARO turns it right back around. He eventually breaks the hold voluntarily so that he can drop the metal cabinet from earlier in the match down on his opponent’s legs. It came down rather slowly, however, so Munenori is really no worse for wear and reels off a series of kicks before trying to pin his man on the overturned cabinet.

On another side of the plant, GENTARO and Takagi are brawling near some soda machines, and one of them overturns the recycling bin that is located next to the machines. Takagi winds up suplexing GENTARO down on to the pile of cans that results. After another jump cut, Sawa and GENTARO are seen climbing a very high ladder up on to some sort of crane or winch. Meanwhile, Takagi has found a sledgehammer, causing the announcers to namedrop Triple H. Sawa and GENTARO fight atop their perch, with each teasing that he will throw the other off. Eventually Sawa hits GENTARO so hard that his hat goes flying off, which actually elicits a pop from the audience down below. The wrestlers climb back down the ladder after that, while their partners fight over who is going to DDT the other wrestler on to a wooden pallette. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Takagi wins. Elsewhere, Sawa has an armbar on GENTARO, but GENTARO escapes by . . . ummm . . . sticking a couple of his fingers up Sawa’s ass. I’m not making that one up. Let’s move on. Eventually Takagi and Sawa isolate Nakazawa over by the vending machines and ping pong him back and forth with a series of kicks. They climb on top of the machines and presumably are going to come off with some sort of wacky high risk move, but GENTARO intervenes and cuts them off by throwing plastic traffic cones at them. When the champions come off their perch, more empty soda cans are thrown at them, allowing the FMW product to climb atop the beverage dispensers. He COMES OFF WITH AN ASAI MOONSAULT, which allows Nakazawa to get a two count on Takagi.

The challengers then find a bin full of iron rings, which are wide enough in diameter that GENTARO is able to put a series of them around Nakazawa’s arm to set up the ultimate clothesline. Michael actually sells that he can’t lift his arm with all of the added weight, so GENTARO helps him get it up and the two land a double team lariat on both of their opponents. They follow with stereo superkicks, but neither move is big enough to put an end to this match. The metal cabinet gets involved once more, this time with Michael setting it up in front of a forklift and GENTARO turning the lift on so that it elevates him and Takagi well above the crowd. GENTARO attempts a superplex off the top of the lift and on to the cabinet, but Takagi reverses and turns it in to a STONE COLD STUNNER off the lift and on to the waiting metal. Sawa is right there and gives GENTARO a shining wizard as soon as he lands, but Nakazawa breaks up the subsequent pin attempt. Takagi goes back up tot he top of the forklift and gives GENTARO a superfly splash through a table that he had conveniently been placed upon. That’s not the finish to the match, though. Nakazawa and Sawa have wound up on the top of another forklift, where Sawa puts his opponent into a version of the octopus hold, and Nakazawa submits to that. The champions have successfully retained their titles.

Match Thoughts: This is not the first time that DDT wrestlers have been involved in a match that takes place somewhere other than a traditional pro wrestling ring. It’s not the first time that I2I has taken a look at one of them, either. A few months ago, I reviewed the company’s attempt at having a four-way match in a theme park. I have to say, this was probably a step or two down from the theme park fight, though that has less to do with the performances of the wrestlers and more to do with the fact that there just weren’t as many opportunities in this environment to come up with particularly unique or wacky spots. It was much more a traditional “you hit me with this, I’ll Irish whip you into that” sort of hardcore match that we’ve seen many times over the years from various companies. There were a few entertaining spots like the iron ring lariat and the big Asai moonsault, but, at the end of the day, if you’re somebody who just wants to see a match like this for novelty’s sake and not a hardcore DDT fan, there are better examples of the genre to check out.

Match Numero Dos: Sanshiro Tagaki & Munenori Sawa (c) vs. Kim Yotsugi & Hitori Gundan for the KO-D Tag Team Titles (nKw3, 03/27/2010)

As mentioned previously, we’re in the middle of a park in a makeshift ring. Sawa and Takagi’s KO-D Tag Team Title belts are placed on a ladder at the top of a hill, which the “ring” is at the foot of. I’m still not able to speak Japanese, but, based on the wrestlers’ actions throughout the match, I am making the assumption that there is something to be gained by the wrestlers reaching the top of the hill. Perhaps the match can be one by pulling the belts off of the ladder – it’s not entirely clear.

As soon as the bell sounds, the challengers make a mad dash for the top of the hill, though Sawa and Takagi are able to catch them and send them rolling back down the hill. The action quickly spills back into the ring, where Takagi goes to war with the man who I’m going to arbitrarily label Yotsugi, because there was never a clear introduction of the challenger. Sanshiro chops and slams him before tagging out to Sawa, who tries to run the thin, loosely strung ropes and almost rips through them, coming off with a powerdrive elbow. Takagi pops back in and no-sells some body blows from his opponent, eventually lifting a knee and hitting a beautiful standing dropkick that is quite impressive for a man who carries around as much weight as he does. The action spills out on to the hill again, with Sawa planting Yotsugi with a slam and then doing a series of somersaults down the hill and into a splash on his opponent. Yotsugi is also made to eat a DDT on the hill, while Gundan is choked with a bicycle by Takagi. Yotsugi is able to get the first real offense for his team when he suplexes Sawa into a large mud puddle and then puts him into a crossface hold. A Gundan Irish whip also puts Takagi into the mud, but before long the nKw3 boys are being beaten again, with Takagi whipping Yotsugi into a tree and Sawa putting Gundan into an armbar and then an Indian deathlock while he rests on a stump. Poor Yotsugi has now been taken in to a large, muddy crater of some sort by Takagi, where he’s placed in a sharpshooter. Sawa has meanwhile commandeered the bike that was used earlier in the match and RIDES IT IN TO GUNDAN’S CROTCH as Mr. Gundan iss seated up against a tree. If that weren’t bad enough, Gundan is also given a DDT on to a piece of plywood. He attempts to respond by walking on a set of stilts that somebody in the crowd gives to him, but Sawa makes sure that goes nowhere fast.

Munenori eventually places his opponent on the back of the bike and rides him across the hill so that they can meet up with their respective partners. The nKw3 team is placed at the bottom of what looks like a mogul on a BMX course while the KO-D champs pose at the top of it, but the unknown wrestlers somehow manage to cut off their more experienced opponents and hit them with a big splash. Yotsugi places Sawa in a figure four, setting up a bit in which Sawa and Gundan take turns reversing the hold for their respective partners. Eventually that is broken up, and all four of the wrestlers take turns running along the perimeter of a circular pit of moguls hoping to ultimately hit splashes on one another. Sawa pulls it off but nobody else really gets it to go anywhere. When we escape from the mogul pit, Sawa gives Gundan a facebuster on to the bare earth, and eventually the two of them wind up brawling in a creek, where SAWA APPLIES A CROSS ARM BREAKER. When Munenori reverses the hold, Gundan responds with a side Russian leg sweep on to the banks, but he’s immediately met by a Takagi knee. Sanshiro takes the young man back in to the ring, where he and Sawa give the nKw3 rep a double suplex for two.

Gundan is set up for a big lariat from Takagi, but the move misses and connects with Sawa’s face. This gives Gundan the opening to throw powder in his opponent’s face, after which Takagi and Sawa are treated to the dreaded MENTOS AND COKE SPRAY ATTACK~! The Mythbusters would be proud. It almost allows Team nKw3 to climb the hill and grab the KO-D belts, but they’re cut off at the last moment. Gundan gives Takagi a rana at the top of the hill that sends the DDT founder rolling down the base, but Sawa is right there to take up for his partner and give Gundan a dragon screw on the ground. With Gundan reeling, Sawa walks to the bottom of the hill, runs the entire way up, and gives Gundan a shining wizard . . . though he has so much momentum at this point that he inadvertently goes rolling back down the other side of the hill. After a bit more hill climbing, all four wrestlers wind up at the top once more, where the champions place the challengers in double submission holds – Takagi’s STF and Sawa’s octopus – to score the victory.

Match Thoughts: Though on paper this was not presented as any kind of crazy, “off ring” match in the same vein as our opening contest, that’s certainly what it wound up being. The amount of time spent in the ring was minimal, and, even when the wrestlers were in the ring, it was such low-rent setup that they may as well not have been in a ring at all. It was an interesting one to watch because, though I don’t have much information on the background of the nKw3 wrestlers, it seems logical for me to assume that they don’t nearly have the level of experience as the other two wrestlers in the bout. Yet, despite this fact, they did a good job of sticking with them and improvising unconventional professional wrestling spots as thogh they’d be doing this for years. Perhaps the one thing that struck me the most about this match, though, was how little the fourth wall seemed to mean. The wrestlers were often doing things with huge smiles on their faces and reacting to spots as though they were entertaining themselves in addition to entertaining the crowd. A lot of people would knock the match for this, considering it a break of “kayfabe” . . . though, in my mind, it worked for this particular bout. The fact that it was clear that the wrestlers were enjoying themselves while putting on this incredibly goofy professional wrestling match made me enjoy their efforts all the more. This was good, clean fun and a bit more entertaining than the opening match of the show in my book.

Match Numero Tres: Sanshiro Takagi & Munenori Sawa (c) vs. Great Kayser & Hiroaki Moriya for the KO-D Tag Team Titles (FU*CK, 03/28/2010)

Moriya starts the match for the challengers and it’s Sawa for the champions, with both wrestlers missing many, many moves off of the ropes in an extended criss-cross spot until they finally have the good sense to just stop running. Sawa gets the first real offense of the match with a jumping kick in the corner, and we clip ahead to Kayser and Takagi together in the ring. Sanshiro tags out to Sawa and simultaneously tosses Kayser out to the floor . . . and before long everybody has left the ring and is brawling on the outside. This leads to wrestlers fighting in a tiny bathroom, which would make Chris Benoit and Kevin Sullivan proud. Despite much teasing, nobody’s head winds up in the toilet. We then head in to a restaurant which is across the street from whatever venue was hosting the card, and the match comes to a grinding halt for several minutes as both Takagi and Kayser try their hands at karaoke. Clipping ahead again, the four wrestlers are fighting in the streets, and an inadvertent shot from Takagi sends Sawa rolling down a hill even larger than the one that he rolled down in the last match. More fast forwarding sees the match come upon a random group of school children, who have no clue what the FU*CK is going on. We’re now at a playground, where Sawa chases a small child as Kayser gives Takagi a swinging DDT off of a railing. Sawa and several children team up to catapult Kayser off of a teeter-totter, which Sawa follows by picking up a child and swinging his legs at Kayser for an assisted dropkick.

More clipping sees us in the streets outside of the playground, with the match having to briefly stop for a car that decided not to slow down AT ALL despite the fact that four pro wrestlers and several spectators were standing in the middle of the road. Then, in perhaps my favorite new submission hold of all time, Sawa finds a bicycle pump and sticks it in Kayser’s mouth, attempting to INFLATE HIM TO DEATH. Kayser punches his opponent off and tries to use the pump for his own devices, sticking in input in between Sawa’s buttocks. What is it with people trying to reach Munenori’s a-spot? That’s something he almost definitely didn’t have to deal with in BattlArts. More clipping leads to more fighting in the streets, including a figure four that quite literally holds up traffic. Ultimately the match spills into what appears to be some sort of arcade, where the highlight is a small child who completely no-sells everything going on around him so that he can continue to read the book that he brought with him. Sawa hits a shining wizard in the tiny arcade and then takes Kayser outside, putting him in the octopus hold in a batting cage to score the victory for his team.

Match Thoughts: This was perhaps my favorite match of the entire set. Normally these bizarre “falls count anywhere” matches have herds of professional wrestling fans following them, and watching the wrestling fans watch the unconventional match provides some comical moments. However, this match was even better, as it didn’t just have a herd of wrestling fans follow it but also integrated the reactions of several NON-fans, people who had no clue that a mobile grappling battle was going to descend upon them and briefly interrupt their days. It was the reactions of these people that made the match for me and took it from just another falls count anywhere match that I will go through once and then promptly discard to something that I will save and most likely watch on multiple occasions over the years.

Overall

Sometimes, you just need a break from traditional professional wrestling. Sometimes, a show that is completely off the wall and different hits the spot and is exactly what you need in order to keep from burning out on traditional, super-serious professional wrestling. If you agree with that philosophy, this is the perfect show to break up long runs of watching NOAH and Dragon Gate in which you’re generally “ooo’ing” and “ahhh’ing” at the wrestlers’ athletic prowess as opposed to their personalities. It’s not the kind of show that will be winning any awards at the end of 2010, but it will keep you happy for an hour, and sometimes that’s all you need.

---

Looking forward to the next instalment of Into the Indies? Keep an eye on 411’s Twitter accounts, and you just might see it pop up!
http://www.twitter.com/411mania
http://www.twitter.com/411wrestling
http://www.twitter.com/411moviestv
http://www.twitter.com/411music
http://www.twitter.com/411games
http://www.twitter.com/411mma

See you all next week!