[1997-05-04-Kingdom] Kazushi Sakuraba vs Yuhi Sano

Naoki Sano aka Takuma Sano aka Yuhi Sano transitions with ease into Kingdom from UWFi. Hard-hitting opening minute and a pretty hot lead up to the finish. Sano kicking and suplexing is the best Sano and he does the former here, murdering Sakuraba with those rolling solebutts...I mean, the one in the corner was like a shotgun. Sakuraba has some slick movements on the mat but it isn't Sano's forte, so the groundwork is pretty boring and messy at times, but I guess that adds to the shootiness of this. They pick things back up in the final minutes with Sakuraba hitting a German suplex into the rear naked choke to a big reaction. Sano tries to finish Sakuraba off with the crossface chickenwing and the jujigatame but Sakuraba's able to fight out and win with the heel hold. Fun match.