2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Ishikawa v. Speedball

7. Shuji Ishikawa v. Mike Bailey DDT 1/5

PAS: Really fun David v. Goliath match. Ishikawa is a lumpy WARish dude, kind of a poor man's Takeshi Ishikawa, and isn't afraid to hit hard and get kicked in the face and kneed in the kidneys. Bailey's moonsault double knee's are a nasty bit of offense and they are landed in cool ways, Ishikawa is on his hands and knees when they land which really makes them look hurty. There is a top rope version where Bailey flips right into a big knee. I also loved Ishikawa giant swinging Bailey right into chairs. Might have had a couple of 2 counts more then necessary, but it was fun stuff.

ER: If you gave me $1 for every gut busting Ishikawa knee I was willing to take, I would have zero dollars. Bailey would end up with far more dollars, because he is a crazy person who cares not about his own knees crashing into hard surfaces, nor meaty knees burying themselves into his stomach. Bailey flies into a bunch of crazy things with abandon - both his own wild moves and the beefy limbs of Ishikawa. We've all seen a zillion elbow exchanges over the years, so seeing these two break out kitchen sink knee exchanges is a real treat. Bailey is super fast and always seems to land well, he really is like a speedball bouncing around the ring. His lightning kick combo keeps getting faster, he throws in extra spins on kicks almost as if he was just getting bored, and he's got precise aim. Ishikawa is more of a lumpy bully, but able to surprise with speed bursts, a fun Takayama lite. I really got into the battle of knees, as Bailey tried a ton of moonsault and shooting star kneedrop combos and man do some of those landings kill, just points of knees right into the kidneys. But every time Bailey would miss (and crash knees first into the mat) Ishikawa would be there to dish some brutal kneelifts. We did roll into that overkill territory, where it felt like Bailey took way too much of a beating and kept kicking out the exact same way. It's a bummer that a vicious release dragon suplex can't even keep a guy on the mat for 5 seconds. Bailey gets dumped on his head and is back up kicking seconds later. I thought Ishikawa was pretty punishing down the stretch but felt his big moves were less big because of Bailey's kickouts. But we get a killer release German, an even better powerslam reversal with Bailey grabbing a dragon sleeper and dragging Ishikawa all the way down. The overkill was a bit much, but the work was a blast, no denying that.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST