Hey Yoji Anjoh, Play a Song for Me, I'm not Sleepy and There is no Place I'm Going To

Yoji Anjoh v Naoki Sano (UWFi, 8/13/93) - EPIC

From when I watched this 2+ years ago:

Man this was outstanding, probably the best UWFi match I've ever seen. I've been thinking for a while now that I really owe it to myself to watch more Yoji Anjoh, because everything I've seen him in has been at worst good. There's a bunch of Sano matches that I need to see as well, so I guess I could say the same for him, but he's a guy I came around to a long time ago and already knew how great he could be. Anjoh was someone I never paid much attention to in the first place, but there's no way I can ignore him anymore. He loses his tempter at a couple points here and it's awesome. They wind up in the ropes and the ref' calls for a break, but Anjoh's in the middle of sinking in a submission and isn't best pleased so he just stomps Sano in the gut. He takes Sano's back and Sano sort of clips him with a little elbow, so Anjoh calls over the ref' and points to his eyebrow like "Hey, fucker, look at that." Then he hauls off and starts elbowing Sano in the back of the head for his bullshit. This was worked mostly even the whole time and they were busting out some of the slickest takedowns and counters I've seen. I wish I could give some specific examples, but reading about it over the internet just doesn't do a lot of it justice. I could sit here and try and explain why Sano's chicken wing was spectacular, but I'd suck at it and it's something you're better off watching for yourself to appreciate. This whole match was fucking boss and feels like it's somewhere around the top 5 for the whole year.

On a re-watch it's just as awesome. Sano's chicken wing looks even better on repeat viewings and is just a ridiculously great finish, from the way he initially grabs the arm, to the takedown, to slowly shifting position...perfect. Anjoh losing his temper never gets old. Really, this was as great as I remembered and it might be the career match for both guys.


Yoji Anjoh v Victor Zangiev (UWFi, 4/13/94) - GREAT

Well this ruled. Match only goes about 5 and a half minutes, but they do a bunch of super neat stuff with the limited time they get. Zangiev wrestles every bit like the hairy beast he looks, chucking Anjoh around with awesome takedowns and absorbing all the knees Anjoh throws at his head and face. Anjoh nearly takes a full on Zbyszko powder at one point because Zangiev just keeps out-muscling and countering anything he throws at him (he fucking handsprings out of a borderline-triangle choke, fer fucks!). Zangiev takes Anjoh over with this NASTY judo throw where he almost had his arm in a kimura at the same time, then right after it he takes him down again with basically a shoot style Ricky Steamboat armdrag. Anjoh scoring the tap out by applying a sick armbar with his legs was an awesome finish, and Zangiev gets pissed because douchebag Anjoh kept the hold on a few extra seconds...you know, because he's Anjoh. For a guy that was only in wrestling about 5 years, Zangiev could sure as shit GO.


Complete & Accurate Anjoh