Friday, April 26, 2019

Hard Hit Pro 3/3/2019 - Challenge

 Hard Hit Pro 3/3/2019 - Challenge

ハードヒットCHALLENGE 2019年3月3日(日)

The card for this is here: http://hardhitpro.com/1003 and article with pics on the show is here: http://hardhitpro.com/1010. There is no English information about this online, however they have a  niconico pay channel where you can watch them, which is how this was found. It took me a good hour to figure out who all these guys were. Some of these people are so obscure and a few of them like Sen Nakadai aren't even wrestlers.

Hard Hit was an offshoot of DDT with shootstyle wrestling. Apparently they split off from DDT in 2015, but still use some of their guys. This has shoot style rules and points.

1st match - Tomoya Omura vs Brian Ishizaka
Match is here - https://rutube.ru/video/e68d835d2a3a4a951d776cb597abbdf5/?pl_type=user&pl_id=1067514
Tomoya Omura
Brian Ishizaka


Omura is in the orange/black. Omura kicks hard early and Briant fights back with slaps. They go at it real fast here with Omura hitting tons of leg kicks. Brian gets dropped with a leg kick but gets up before the count. Briant gets a choke in from behind but Omura hits the ropes for a break. Omura hits some hard slaps and a kick and rolls low into a kneebar which forces Brian to tap. This was only 2-3 minutes, but was hard hitting action throughout.

2nd match - Kenta Hattori vs Masaru Ando
Match is here -  https://rutube.ru/video/e68d835d2a3a4a951d776cb597abbdf5/?pl_type=user&pl_id=1067514


Masaru Ando

Kenta Hattori

The finish

Kenta is in the blue/red, Ando is in the blue/black.They wrestle around to start off and Kenta tries to mount Ando. Super fast movement here. Ando picks up Kenta from the mat and does a nice slam on him. He tries to armbar him but Kenta makes it to the ropes. Kenta twirls Ando around and gets on his back before ando knocks him off. Ando goes for a german but Kenta grabs his leg and Ando goes to the ropes. Ando gets Kenta's back and germans him. Kenta can't make the count as he is holding his back and Ando wins. Nothing wrong with this at all and the slam and german were cool.

3rd Match - Fuminori Abe vs Sen Nakadai
Match is here - https://rutube.ru/video/8574fe0518d61ababe0be6da2b46b2bb/?pl_type=user&pl_id=1067514

Fuminori Abe
Sen Nakadai



Abe is in the black tights with black hair. Nakadai has tattoos on him and fought for DEEP. Nakadai
looks pretty tough. Abe tries to armdrag him and Naka flops on top. They trade position for a little. Abe tries to buck Nakadai off and does. Abe grabs a leg and Naka hits the ropes for the break. Abe dives in and trips him with his leg from the inside and rolls for a leglock but Naka counters it with a choke attempt and then goes on the mount. Naka hits a leglock and forces the rope break. Naka kind of monkey flips him to get on top and tries for an armbar but Abe gets on top in the side mount position. The ref stands them up when Naka gets up. Abe hits a wild multi-rotation uraken and knocks down Naka. Naka hits a running gamengiri and Abe barely gets up. Naka hits a hard shot and then takes him down hard. They exchange slaps and Naka goes down but then gets up quick. Naka swings wildly but they go to the time limit for a draw. Then they slap each other. This had some highlights and wasn't boring.

4th match - Ninja Lee vs Takahiro Takaba
Match is here -  https://rutube.ru/video/8908224cba5acb6a2df4c4008f604926/?pl_type=user&pl_id=1067514

Takahiro Takaba
Ninja Lee

Ninja Lee

The finish

Ninja wears the ninja attire. He hits a fast combo and sends Takaba down with a high kick. He goes for another kick, but Takaba grabs the leg and throws him down. Ninja hits some fast hard shots on the mount and things slow down a little. Ninja gets on his knees and considers a running punt but it doesn't happen. Ninja drops Taka with a high kick amd Taka is up by 9. They wrestle around a bit and Taka wins with the kimura.

5th match - Kentaro Yurimitsu vs Francisco Tamagawa
Match is here - https://rutube.ru/video/b93bb73b644d77866e5b0a8e76eb3329/?pl_type=user&pl_id=1067514
Francisco Tamagawa
The finish

Kentaro Yurimitsu

Kentaro Yurimitsu

Yurimitsu is in the gray short tights. Tamagawa is in the red shirt and black tights. Yuri does a cool throw on Tama and takes him down. Yuri gets his back and chokes him out quick for the win.

6th match - Koike Hidenobu vs Kris Mantaro
Match is here - https://rutube.ru/video/b93bb73b644d77866e5b0a8e76eb3329/?pl_type=user&pl_id=1067514
Koike Hidenobu
Kris Mantaro

Koike is in the red. Mantaro is in the silver. Kris waves his finger "no" at Koike. This is a little bit slower than other matches and they go to to the mat. Kokike has a kimura but loses it. Koike goes for a rope break. Kris trips down Kokie. They don't do too much but Koike forces the rope break with the leg lock from behind. Koike does a side throw. Kris hits a grounded choke. Koike doesn't sink in an ankle lock and they go to the 10 minute time limit draw. Boring match without too much happening.

7th match - Hikaru Sato vs Tetsuya Ido
Match is here - https://rutube.ru/video/b6c97c3557ae23bfd8c3580a77522d5d/?pl_type=user&pl_id=1067514
Hikaru Sato
Tetsuya Ido

Tetsuya Ido
The finish

Ido (who as of 2023 is called Tetsuya Izuchi) has the blonde hair. Sato is in the black/green.Ido hits a nice kick combo and Sato fires back. Ido gets a nice slap in on Sato. Sato takes control in the mount with a few stomach shots and they get back up. Sato surprises Ido with a slap then hits a hard combo on him. Sato works over Ido's leg with kicks and Ido has to take a count for the knockdown. Sato hits more leg kicks to take down Ido and the ref stops it, giving Sato the win. Nothing wrong with this at all.

8th match - Rocky Kawamura vs Shio Karasawa
Match is here - https://rutube.ru/video/1d188c841eee83f8b66b1f8a4f6b8a04/?pl_type=user&pl_id=1067514

Rocky is in the red, white and blue. The website says this is "near boxing rules" and is an exhibition. I have a feeling they will punch but not in the face. These two get in boxing stances Rocky goes for jabs early and Shio hits body shots. Shio hits a body combo on Rocky and then a combo to his head.  Rocky pops him with a few and a good one in the stomach. Left hook by Shio. Rocky hits a left hook to end Round 1. Shio hits a left hook to Rocky's ear and they get broken up in the clinch. Shio gets another combo in and Rocky hits a fast combo then Shio counters with a combo of his own.  Big left hook by Shio and a body shot. Rocky hits a hard left hand and then they both go down after a hard hook by Shio. Shio tags him with another hook and Rocky hits him at the bell. If I had to score this, Shio would be ahead. Round 3 starts with Shio hitting a combo and Rocky presses him into the corner for a break. Shio hits a bunch of punches and Rocky gets some in as well. They start firing fast with bot hitting tons of shots. Rocky then puts Shio on his knee after a fierce combo. Rocky presses him in the corner and goes down after a right hook. Shio tags Rocky a few times and both are dazed. Big rights and lefts from Rocky and then he takes a big left hook and falls on Shio in the corner. No winner here as it goes the time limit and is an exhibition.

I know the idea of worked boxing matches doesn't sound real good, but I really enjoyed this. You could hear the shots and the action was real fast. This was a lot of fun and I'd recommend giving this a try.

9th match - Hideki "Shrek" Sekine and Ryutaro Watanabe vs Hideki Suzuki and Yu Iizuka
Match is here - https://rutube.ru/video/7ce93cbcb357872da96acc38ec0dbe42/?pl_type=user&pl_id=1067514



Sekine has the afro. Watanabe is in the black and red. Suzuki is in the black with the normal hair and Iizuka has the long hair and is the skinny guy. Iizuka and Watanabe trade kicks and Watanabe gets his back, which Iizuka tries to turn into an armbar. Watanabe pounds on Iizuka from the top, but Iizuka slaps on an armbar for the break on the ropes. Iizuka lights up Wata's leg and gets caught in the choke for a rope break. Suzuki tags himself in and Sekine gets in as well. Suzuki hits a cool arm takedown and they both latch onto each other's legs to block legholds. Sekine gets Suzuki's back and Suzuki tries to stand up with him on it but has to use the ropebreak. Suzuki grabs the toes then gets a tight headlock, but Sekine makes the tag. Suzuki shows Watanabe in the corner and then Watanabe tries for the triangle. Suzuki kneels on Watanabe's calf and pulls the foot, forcing a break. Iizuka comes in and kicks Sekine, who isn't affected and stands up to him. Sekine rolls forward and Iizuka tries a spin kick then palm thrusts. Iizuka tries a rolling kneebar but Sekine just slaps his back then kicks him while standing. Iizuka tries to do a flying armbar but Sekine holds him up. Iizuka gets the tag and Suzuki nails a DROPKICK. It was a good one too. Sekine puts Suzuki in a full nelson and Sekine touches Watanabe, forcing the tag out, atleast I think that's how it works. Watanabe slaps on a ground choke that Suzuki just powers out of then he submits Watanabe with an ankle hold. Very fun match with the big guys looking big and tough.

10th match - Nobuhiro Tsurumaki vs Raito Shimizu
Match is here - https://rutube.ru/video/9968782f36a7463ad2b5943e2daec27e/?pl_type=user&pl_id=1067514





Nobu is in the black tights and blue shoes. Shimizu is the balding guy in all black. Nobu spears Shimizu hard to start this then armbars him for the rope break. Nobu ROCK BOTTOM'S Shimizu hard and slaps on the armbar for another rope break. Nobu dives low and trips Shimizu. Nobu lays some punches in on the stomach. Shimizu finally gets some offense in and hits some knees and a high kick to knock down Nobu. Nobu hits Karelin's Lift and does a good throw on Shimizu during it. Nobu hits a nice side hiplock throw and Tsumaraki squeezes his head/throat with both legs and takes him out to win.This was short and totally fine.

Overall thoughts: It kind of feels weird to rate these kind of shows as they are quasi MMA, but there was a lot of good stuff and I was entertained throughout. Obviously, if you aren't into shootstyle it won't be your cup of tea and this definitely is a niche product, but I enjoyed it.

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