Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Norman Smiley

[8.0] "Well, raise your hand if you ever thought you'd see Norman Smiley in a shoot-style, pseudo-MMA make-believe fight. Ol' Norm actually gets a lot of clean shots in a bout that almost goes a full fifteen minutes; he even manages to drop Kazuo with a RAD belly to back suplex at one point. The submission work and counters are actually crisp as hell and Kazuo does a great job as the guy on the receiving end of the least likely ass kicking in Japanese wrestling history. And Norm's smooth-ass reversal of a Boston crab into an inverted kneebar is EXCELLENT. This very well could be the most unexpectedly great match ever -- with a final stretch that's unironically riveting."

[7.0] "Very good stuff here. Norman mostly in control of the grappling while Kazuo keeps him at bay with strikes. nice hip toss into a Fujiwara armbar for the finish. ***1/2"

[6.0] "I did not know Norman Smiley had this in him but this was a cool little mid-card match of two guys with their own skillsets, styles making fights with Smiley's strong ground game and Yamazaki's reliance on strikes. Smiley keeps control of a fair amount of this as the much more imposing athlete but Yamazaki keeps him on his toes when he comes forward with those kicks. The style lends itself to guys trying to escape holds whenever they can and not sitting in them which comes in handy when Smiley attempts a cloverleaf but has a bit too loose of a grip so Yamazaki immediately grabs the ropes instead of waiting for Smiley to adjust. The sudden finish with the fujiwara felt pretty organic too, felt genuine sympathy for Smiley for getting caught off-guard for just a second and losing because of it."

[6.0] "I hate to mark this down because so much is right in this match. However, with shootstyle, you have to look realistic at all times. Everything has to be believable as a real fight and too often they were feeding each other limbs. Or there was just too much space in between them during holds. Logically, in a real fight, these holds would be easily countered. Smiley excelled at several aspects of shoot style. I loved his short strikes like the knees or the liver punches. I adored his counters out of difficult holds to escape like the half crab. Too often it wasn't perfect though and the finish is a prime example with a miscommunication into a hip toss, which looks fake."

[8.0] "Norman Smiley was excellent here. This was his debut in UWF and his background in catch wrestling with knowledge gained from Gotch and the Malenkos really paid off. Yamazaki seemed to be caught off guard by Smiley's quickness and smooth transitions. Smiley actually has the advantage throughout most of the match until Yamazaki recognizes an opportunity to seize the victory with a smart submission. Very enjoyable overall. ****"