This review was commissioned by Ri Ri over on my Ko-fi account.
Josh Barnett’s work presents an interesting evolution of the shoot style of the 90s. While shoot style always included throws and suplexes—as true martial arts does—Barnett’s take on it feels a lot more influenced by the pro wrestling end of the spectrum. Big German suplexes, leg capture belly-to-belly throws, these are the kinds of moves that would feel at home in a major main event in one of the bigger puroresu companies. What’s fascinating about Barnett is how seamlessly these bombs get incorporated into this typically grappling heavy style.
To that end, Tamura’s a great opponent to work with here. Tamura plays an outsized underdog here, similar to how he might against Tariel Bitsadze in RINGS. Unlike Bitsadze though, Barnett’s a lot quicker on the mat here and provides a much more dynamic challenge for Tamura. Much of the early bout sees Barnett controlling Tamura on the mat, even smothering some of that famous slipperiness here and there. In fact, Tamura’s the first to use up a rope escape here, and he’s only ever slippery enough to avoid match-ending damage.
Things get a lot more even when things move to a standing position. Tamura’s able to break through with his signature kicks, and even earn himself a few key knockdowns that keep the points fairly even throughout the runtime. It’s only in response to those big kicks that we see Barnett start to wield those big suplexes. Even beyond the moves, we see Barnett’s pro wrestling influence at play here. Something like walking into Tamura’s kicks as a kind of character-based no selling pulls far more from the flashier and theatrical end of the artform, but it’s efficient here to put over what a mountain to climb he is.
Even the finish draws on classic pro wrestling structure. It’s a bit of learned psychology, with Tamura having repeatedly eaten that leg trap belly-to-belly, he’s finally able to divine a counter when it matters the most. He stuffs a final attempt and transitions smoothly into a cross armbreaker for the win. Simple pro wrestling psychology—go to the well one time too many, and you risk educating your opponent instead of defeating them.
While far from the best that either man could offer, still reaches the expected greatness of both.
Rating: ***3/4