Battle Arts Professional Wrestling Pilot

PAS: Nothing the Segunda Caida establishment loves more then BattlArts, and while this is Battle Arts the Canadian wrestling school run by Santino, they both have Yuki Ishikawa and I am interested to check out how Yuki's students are going, and any chance to see the legend in action is well worth it.

Mercenary Mike Dorosti v. Randy Reign

PAS: The commentary on this match was pretty bad, acentless Santino was fine but Freedom Wallace's fake Bobby Heenan was bad even in the subset of indy wrestling commentators doing fake Bobby Heenan. This is a TV pilot, you probably shouldn't have one of your announcers talking about how much both wrestlers suck and how bad the match is. The match itself wasn't great, both guys are pretty big,  but this had the feel of an ECWA heavyweight match from 2002, some power moves which looked okay, some questionable punches and clotheslines and a lot of epic match selling. This goes 20 minutes and neither guy had the wind for that, by the end it looked less like selling and more like Kimbo v. Dada 3000.  Dorosti had a local pizzaria owner or something working as a face manager and he kept checking his phone during the match. Nothing BatllArtsy about this, this was bog standard heavyweight indy wrestling.

The Compound (Buck Gunderson, Karou and Smiles) v. DJ/Dustin Quicksilver and Randy Bynoe

PAS: This was really an example of how a formula six man tag can hide limitations. This was an entertaining match, and it was clear that some of the guys were greener then Dorosti and Reign. I liked all of the heels, Gunderson has a gimmick of promising ice cream to the kids in the audience and not delivering which is some solid old school shit. He is a fun cheap shot artist, always running when he gets confronted, but being really nasty when he has the advantage. I like Karou as an indy Meng, he had a nice headbutt and good stomps, Smiles has a great name and look for a crazy guy, although he didn't wrestle particularly crazy. The heels cut off the ring on Quicksilver and beat him up a bunch till he got a hot tag and then everything broke loose, basic pro-wrestling done well. This wouldn't be a standout match on a Mid-South Coliseum show in 1985, but it would be well worth everyones time, and they would be excited for Jerry Lawler to get his hands on Buck Gunderson.

Yuki Ishikawa v. Freedom Wallace

PAS: Wow, so Yuki Ishikawa is still who he is. This was by far the best of your Canuk Ishikawa, as Wallace was truly game to work a main event match. Match had the mix of beautiful grappling and harrowing violence you want in a Yuki Ishikawa main event. Opens up with rolling for submissions and Ishikawa is just breathtaking at grabbing limbs and necks and twisting them off, he is always looking to improve his position, and switch to something nasty, Wallace did a nice job not being completely overwhelmed and had some nice counters of his own. The match really hit another gear when it got chippy, Ishikawa gets top position and cracks Wallace in the ear with a slap and digs a hook into his ribs. Wallace gets an elevator, top position and cleans the plaque off of Yuki's teeth with a forearm, and that set the tone. There were parts of this match that got more pro wrestling, and even Wallaces stomps and dropkicks had some real steam on them. There was this great moment when Ishikawa loads up a nasty surfboard which Wallace breaks with an eye rake. When Ishikawa gets his bearings he unloads with hell and for a moment we reached Ikeda v. Ishikawa. Match just had me grinning all night. The rest of this show was pretty forgettable, but man you give me an Ishikawa match a month I am deeply in.