Jun Akiyama vs. Katsuyori Shibata, from WRESTLE-1 Grand Prix 2005 Opening Round

It’s hard to be upset that this mind-blowing bout didn’t receive more love at the time—2005 was a banner year for fantastic matches with widespread visibility, so one could be excused for missing out on a gem hidden in K-1’s doomed attempt at getting into wrestling. That said, this rocked from start to finish, Shibata getting Akiyama to play his game and Akiyama answering by losing his damn mind and trying to disfigure the kid. This goes a little over ten minutes and not a second is wasted, and that’s how I love my wrestling, thank you very much.

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