2015 Ongoing Match of the Year List

Yuki Ishikawa v. Freedom Wallace BattleArts Academy 12/19

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 Wallace's 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.

ER: From here on out we will be referring to all Canadian Ishikawa as Youppi Ishikawa. And Youppi Ishikawa has not missed a damn beat since his Batt heyday. I love aggressive Ishikawa and here we get a bunch of that. We're used to on-the-ropes Ishikawa, where he's taking a lot of punishment and just trying to outlast his opponent, looking for his opening - and we do get some of that here - but for much of this he's on the prowl and stretching and smacking Freedom into the next section of match. Freedom ain't free, and Wallace paid for his in hyperextended elbows and punched ribs. I enjoyed the pro wrestling feel that Phil mentioned, as parts were almost WWE doing a worked shoot match, with real mat struggle combined with guys doing signature offense. Ishikawa leads Freedom through a few standing exchanges, but Freedom looks good on the ground. I especially liked him trying to grapevine Ishikawa's arm, Ishikawa shifting out of it, but Freedom suckering him right into a side triangle. I loved Ishikawa going full ham down the stretch with signature offense. Suddenly the match felt like a WorldWide match going home, with Youppi dropping him with a couple Saito suplexes, setting up the enziguiri, and locking on a nasty snug Octopus. It felt like me playing as Ishikawa in Virtual Pro Wrestling 2. I loved it.


2015 ONGOING MOTY LIST