Talk about it here.

Good match. Weird atmosphere, as it's an outdoor show with lots of empty seats and not much heat. You'd think it was the AWA in 1986. The lack of heat hurt it a little for me, but the exchanges were every bit as awesome as you'd expect. I wouldn't mind seeing these two get more time though.

Yeah the near empty stadium looked like when World Class ran the Cotton bowl in 89. However, this match was fun as hell thanks to Tenyru's punches. Will, When is the Tenyru set coming out? I need more of him in my life.

I remember being a little disappointed when I first saw this, but now I have to shake my head at myself because this kicked ass and delivered exactly what almost 10 minutes of Tenryu vs. Sano advertise. Right from the start Tenryu looks concerned that he has to play sportsmanlike in this foreign environment and Sano just keeps upsetting him and awakening his more Tenryuish tendencies. Tenryu is shockingly effective at working quick hold exchanges, but this is about the kicks and punches. Sano really lays in some heavy as lead kicks, refuses to break clean and annoys Tenryu with his junior stuff then even low blows him like he was Perro Aguayo. Really well done build to Tenryu unleashing and when that happens it's on. I love Tenryu's sumo attacks and the knees that busted Sano open were just sickening. Sano to his credit gave as good as he good and just pasted Tenryu's jaw with solebutts. Really simple match, really well done.

The atmosphere and work is sort of a sad reflection of where UWFI was at this point in time--as much as I love both these guys, it just doesn't feel right seeing Irish whips and pinfall counts in a UWFI ring. And this is certainly a step down from the NJPW feud, but Choshu was just that effective at ruining them. That said, the match is pretty kickass and the highlight is Sano dropping Tenryu with a kick that may or may not have been below the belt. Tenryu certainly thought so, as he roars back and absolutely mauls Sano with awesome punches in the corner. Another fine match between Tenryu and an underdog with Genichiro getting over the peril he's in before winning. Afterward he abuses the UWFI ref just because.

This is going to be a month where I really just have to ignore the crowd for the most part and concentrate on the action as this was awesome inside the ring with tons of spots, strikes, and avoidance from Tenryu's part. I thought he was really effective putting over the danger of Sano in particular. That slap exchange half way through the match was sick followed by a flush kick right to Tenryu. Finish stretch was nice with Tenryu firing back and putting Sano away with a powerbomb which was nice to see after the multiple powerbomb kickouts on the G-1. ***1/2

Weird, this match really did nothing for me.

 

Genichiro Tenryu vs Naoki Sano - UWFi 8/17/96

 

This is during that the death throes of UWFi after the NJPW vs UWFi where Takada tries to extend his stay on life support by feuding with Tenryu & WAR. Tenryu and Anjoh had a super fun match in WAR where Anjoh was the cocky shooter bastard and Tenryu taught him his lesson by being ultra-stiff. This match even though I like both guys was pretty disappointing. It is in an outdoor venue in broad daylight with barely anyone there. Tenryu was kinda whiffing early on. They couldn't decide if they wanted to do shoot-style or pro wrestling. Sano had no chance in hell of winning this. They give him a couple of head kicks to knock Tenryu down before Tenryu wins with a barrage of punches and two powerbombs. All the money is in Tenryu vs Takada. I didn't think much of this.

Really sparse stadium but I thought it was still a cool atmosphere. The match is definitely good and has some cool stuff, but it felt stylistically awkward and never really came together. Still, a fun watch and short.