All Time MOTY Head to Head: Rey v. Ki VS. Yuki Ishikawa v. British Brawler

British Brawler v. Yuki Ishikawa BattleArts 4/11/15

PAS: This was the best of the Canadian Ishikawa matches we have seen. Brawler comes fully ready to wrestle Yuki Ishikawa and he comes in there throwing spuds. Big elbow smashes with his full weight behind it, nasty forearms into Yuki's ribs, jaw jacking slaps and some really crowbarish clotheslines. Meanwhile Ishikawa was mostly on defense and he is a great defensive wrestler, catching the overly aggressive Brawler with counter punches and armbar counters. The question is whether Brawler can KO Ishikawa before Ishikawa can catch him slipping. Finish is great with Yuki hitting a enzigiri right to the temple turning the Brawlers lights all the way out.

ER: Killer match, jealous of the fine citizens of Canada (for a few reasons right now). But I don't see Ishikawa as being "mostly on defense" in this at all. This felt like a very aggressive approach for him, especially down the last half of the match (which is usually when he's most defensive, as he's typically taken big damage by that point). But here he's hitting enziguiris, pulling Brawler's legs, getting mount and slamming him with sick body shots, even being the aggressor on standing strikes. Brawler is gamely along for the ride, and I'd love to see these two match up again with some learned behavior. Brawler doesn't hold back on strikes, including some of the best damn stiff arm standing lariats I've ever seen; I have to believe those things rearranged Ishikawa's spine. The stuff around dueling kneebars was great, with Ishikawa going after it, then Brawler grabbing his own while expertly sliding Ishikawa's grip with his free leg, cool sequence. Overall this felt like an easier than normal win for Ishikawa, but that may also be because I'm used to seeing him get the life beat out of him. Still, this was a wonderfully crafted match, probably Ishikawa's best Canadian match so far.

Rey v. Ki review

Verdict:

ER: A wonderful match, right among my favorites of 2015. But not as good as the absolute upper echelon stuff. It still lands really high on our 2015 MOTY List.

PAS: I loved this, nobody is really doing FUTEN style matches anymore, and while British Brawler isn't Daisuke Ikeda he was bringing it. Still Rey v. Ki is hard to beat.


2015 MOTY MASTER LIST