Volk Han vs. Mitsuya Nagai as a Newbie's Guide to RINGS
Volk Han vs. Mitsuya Nagai as a Newbie's Guide to RINGS
I’ve been hearing about Volk Han for over a decade now. In my early days as a message board cretin on puroresu.tv, his name came up in those infamous 5 Star Match threads where users kept track of what they believed to be the best matches in history. Han’s name came up more than once, and in the years since, I’ve only ever seen his work spoken of in the highest of esteem by those whose opinions I trust. He’s become one of those Great Blind Spots of mine, someone whose greatness I’ve only heard of secondhand.
So watching this match is really a long time coming. It’s the first step in remedying a large piece of my pro wrestling ignorance, and as far as introductions go, it’s pretty much perfect.
The match feels specifically structured to take viewers by the hand and say, “Isn’t Volk Han just the sickest dude?”
In basically every way, this feels like a blowout. Nagai seems to have only one strategy in mind throughout this match, which is to crash into Volk and try to crowd him with strikes in the corner or against the ropes. For the most part, Volk refuses to play that game, catching Nagai and bringing the fight down to the mat where he breezes by in the competition.
It’s sort of stunning how much Volk gets out of the smallest things here. I can talk about all the beautiful transitions and manipulations of momentum he uses throughout the match to tie Nagai into knots, but an early moment speaks to his credibility and talent far more. When the fight does end up on the mat, Nagai goes for a leg submission which Volk escapes just by grabbing Nagai’s foot and twisting on it until Nagai starts to relinquish. Even when Nagai does start to let up, Volk keeps the ankle in hand to start working his way into a submission of his own.
Volk has a wonderful ability to make escapes and submission attempts bleed together in a way that doesn’t feel superfluous or showy. Each time he gets caught, there’s a real sense of calm as he works about readjusting himself. Even for someone that doesn’t often have the vocabulary to describe intricate grappling like this, I found myself with Volk every step of the way as he worked his way out of a hold and into one of his own.
Nagai is more of a blank canvas here for Volk to paint upon. He easily feels like he’s losing the battle on the mat, but very little he does on his feet seems to work either. There’s a certain stubbon nature to him continuously trying to break through with the striking, that when he finally does get a real good shot in, it feels momentous. One good kidney punch floors Volk about halfway through the match, leaving the latter doubled over after eating one of the few knockdowns he suffers in the match. Even that brief advantage only really serves to set up later when Nagai’s going for the strikes again and this time Volk’s able to endure, walk through them, and end the match with one of the grossest full nelsons you’ll ever see.
Beyond just teaching one how to enjoy Volk Han, this match does a great job of instructing you how to enjoy the RINGS ruleset in general. It’s really amazing what a simple graphic can do, and it’s a tool that various shoot style promotions have toyed with for years. Typically, it’s just a descending point counter, but there’s a little more complicated touch here with how rope breaks factor in. Simply enough, you can lose if you’re knocked out or submit, but also if you sustain five knockdowns from your opponent, with every two rope break escapes being counted as a single knockdown.
It’s a real neat piece of business overall. One wrestler gets the shine, the rules play out clearly for everyone, and there’s really not much more one can ask of this.
Efficient, tidy, great.
Rating: ****