Talk about it here.

This is a bit of a weird match. It's not worked at all like their usual matches. Not sure if it was a shoot or not, but it looks like one.

Excellent match, much better than their January 1999 fight. This seems to be a shoot but I can't say for sure. Arguments against it being a shoot is that Kohsaka reverses position from the bottom with a leg sweep and later in the fight, Tamura is able to block it (almost a learned spot). But I've seen Kohsaka pull that off in plenty of legit fights. The finish also makes me think shoot as well.

Watched this just to see for myself and there wasn't anything about it that made me think shoot personally except for maybe the finish and even then....

Haven't seen any of their other matches to judge but this didn't come across much diffrent then most "shoot style" matches.

 

Good match either way

In addition to the 1999 match, they also had the draw the following year: 06/27/98. That was the one pimped at the time more that the two that bookend it.

 

Edit: they are worked matches.

If it's worked, it's definitely worked in a different way from what I am used to seeing from them. There's more hesitation to lock up than usual. That said, I really enjoyed this, whatever it was. If it was a work, it was a brilliant work. Dave used to talk about matches where they would work the finish but shoot until then. Is it possible that's what they did here?

 

I don't know what to do with this when ranking everything for the year because I don't want to compare worked matches to shoots, so let me know what you guys think. This is one that would do very well.

It's hard to say. Sometimes RINGS had shoots even before '99. If it's a work, it's curious why they would choose to work this way.

RINGS had a decent amount of shoots on the undercards from mid-96 to the full transition in the fall of 1999. Their January 1999 match is pretty obviously a work. Obviously the June 98 match is as well. But this just doesn't feel right. Very few points used, a finish that was either legit or botched by the wrestlers and/or ref, and a lack of obvious hold feeding make me lean towards shoot.

Also this looks much more like the Tamura/F. Shamrock and Kohsaka/F. Shamrock fights.

I leaned toward thinking it was a shoot. Both guys moved differently than they did in most of their worked matches, against each other and everybody else. I didn't see the feeds, and the finish felt very organic. Good stuff either way. RINGS is kicking ass this year.

There are changes while standing up in how they move and try to defend strikes. More apprehensive. Kohsaka looks nervous in a way. Kohsaka went all spaghetti legged when he took a shot to the head. Match had a good feel to it.

Glad to know there is some dissension on the shoot/work ratio as watching this match the only reoccurring theme I could come up with was weird. The action was fine but everything felt so disjointed and kind of cautious. I wont rank it for purposes of uncertainty but it was the least entertaining Rings stuff of the set so far to me.

from the 5/12/97 WON:

 

Caught the 4/22 RINGS show from Osaka and it was a great show. Only Tony Halme vs. Dick Vrij and Akira Maeda vs. Volk Han were obvious works. It was pretty clear most of the other bouts were shoots. I'd suspect Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Tsuyoshi Kousaka wasn't a shoot, although you couldn't tell from watching it as they worked the match not to have the dramatic spots that they do in their worked shoot matches nor the near submissions and near knockout spots. Just another example of just how good Tamura really is.

There was one near-KO, which was the best(?) part of the match, but chalk me up as someone who couldn't tell either way whether it was worked. It was either a shoot or designed to look even more like a shoot than usual, from the cautiousness shown in the stand-up portions to the wonky ending. If it was a fight, it was an enjoyable one. If it was a work, it was downright brilliant.

I'll go with calling this a worked shoot. It was different than the style you'd normally expect to see from these two. It featured more time standing/striking. Also the matwork placed more of an emphasis on realism rather than entertainment. Both wrestlers are highly skilled at their craft and this contest had its moments. Quite enjoyable, though following this approach wasn't the way to produce a classic. Such as 6/27/98.

Yeah, I'd agree with the "worked shoot" notion - the most telling aspects being the groundwork. But it was a damn good match, with plenty of strong tension, good defense on the mat, and some real sneaky strikes, especially from Tamura. He really lets those palms fly - love TK's staggering collapse into the corner after Tamura catches him with a hard shot. The finish was great as well, as they both fight for an opening and Tamura finally cranks the ankle to force a submission (and a yelp) out of TK. 

Not as spectacular as some of their more famous bouts but they opt for a more shoot match. It reminds me a bit of what they did in 99, going extra in on making it look like a shoot before actually doing it. I enjoyed it thoroughly. The finish felt like it came out of Pancrase with Tamura cranking on the toe hold for the tap. ***3/4

I think this was a work. If I am not mistaken, Meltzer mentioned several times in the Wrestling Observer that RINGS adapted their matches due to the popularity of Pancrase, this included tighter, more realistic matwork like this match and shorter matches on the upper-half of the card. It could have been a worked shoot, but I'm not sure. Either way, I really enjoyed this match when I watched it a while back. I gave it ****1/2 but I'm a sucker for the more realistic RINGS stuff like Tamura vs Kanehara a year later.