A Week of Death Valley Days: Karl Greco Malenko

It is real fever dream stuff for us to be able to bring Karl Greco Malenko out of retirement, BattlArts is such an important thing to all of us, and to Dean, and somehow we have excavated an all time great and brought him back to wrestling. 

Carl Greco/Daisuke Ikeda vs. Yuki Ishikawa/Katsumi Usuda BattlArts 4/14/96-EPIC

PAS:Bat-Bat tags are one of the best bets in pro-wrestling history, I can't remember ever seeing one I though was even mediocre, and they pretty much nearly always reach excellent, and of course this one ruled. Not as much Ikeda vs. Ishikawa as you might expect, this one was a lot of agro Greco going after his opponents, he really presses the pace whenever he is in the ring, making them survive the whirlwind. We also got a lot of really violent Ikeda and Usuda exchanges with Usuda out crowbarring Ikeda at points. Cool setting as the ring was surrounded by people at round tables eating dinner. Can you imagine dinner theatre BattlArts? The world really used to be better. 

MD: I've been spending a lot of time with Newborn UWF in 88 and 89 so even seeing a shootstyle tag is a bit jarring to the system. This had all of the stuff you'd want and expect, the technique, the scrappiness, the way that Greco or Usada would have to unlock holds with multiple strikes, the sheer violence when Ikeda and Ishikawa finally got in there against one another. Nothing was given, that sense of struggle was always there.

What stood out the most were the more traditional pro wrestling elements. It's true with every style: lucha, French Catch, WoS, shootstyle. At the end of the day, there are humans in there and the humans have emotions, wants, desire, and fears, and what makes pro wrestling interesting is how the clash of those things balances with the clash of size and skill. 

What made this as much as anything else was Ikeda being opportunistic and cagey (and Greco willing to come along for that ride). Ikeda dodged Ishikawa for the first third of the match, only coming in when he was staggered in the corner. He'd interfere freely, would roll to the corner so that Greco could save him, would facewash Ishikawa. A subtle heel if not an over the top one, and then Ishikawa would outwrestle him or get him in a position to kick the crap out of him. Ikeda would survive it and gain an advantage and they'd repeat the process. It all built until Ishikawa finally had Ikeda set up so he could invite Usada in for some real clear, clean shots that he wouldn't recover from. A morality play just like any other, no matter the sharp technique and brutal trappings. The heart of pro wrestling is universal.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE IKEDA

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Found Footage Friday: TAKA~! ISHIKAWA~! WARGAMES 2x2~?! SLIM J~! SHADOW JACKSON~! CONCRETE GORILLAS~! NWA ELITE~! DEVIL'S REJECTS~!

Yuki Ishikawa/Kurashima vs. George King/TAKA Michinoku BATTLARTS 2003

MD: If George King wants to post BATTLARTS matches on Instagram, we're going to watch them. King was the odd man out in some ways, but you can't say he wasn't game. Whenever TAKA was in, he was shouting encouragement from the corner. He wasn't afraid to slap and chop hard and he had a lot of feats of strength that felt labored in a way that added to the struggle. Occasionally, you questioned the timing or positioning maybe, but Ishikawa was going to be able to work him into holds and make things look great with just a bit of feeding. That's all he needed anyway. It was a lot of fun to see Ishikawa and TAKA square off, as TAKA threw some nasty kicks but spent a lot of his time twisted and contorted in a crossface chicken wing or outright getting dropped on his head by Ishikawa. Kurashima was in there to take suplexes and throw them, but it was mostly Ishikawa's show. King and TAKA layered in just enough cheating to keep things interesting and help rationalize the finish. 

Slim J/Shadow Jackson vs. Jay Fury/Nemesis 2x2 War Games NWA Anarchy 7/19/08 

PAS: Slim J has seemingly gotten a spot in AEW/ROH which is awesome, he is one of the most underseen and underrated wrestlers of the 21st century, and it is great he is getting a bit of shine. Most people remember him as a high flyer workrate guy, and he is very good at that style, but he truly excels in a bloody ugly brawl like this.

This was a four person War Games match, which conceptually seems a bit silly, but worked fine. It just ended up as a quick tag team I quit match. Nemisis and Shadow Jackson together were the Urban Assault Squad, a long time Cornelia tag team, and this was the apex of their post break up feud. There was a trophy involved in the break up, and the sharp trophy was used as a stabbing implement to open up all four guys. Slim J started the match and took a nasty beating throughout, including getting German Suplexed while both he and his opponent were standing on the top rope, and getting hung with a noose from the cage. There was a lot of battling on the top rope, and at one point the fence started peeling away from the cage, which gave the whole match this chaotic, razor's edge feel. Like any minute this whole thing is going to collapse. Jackson had a real connection to the crowd, but I didn't think his offense looked that great, the heel team was fine, if a little unmemorable, but this was another great example of what an all time deranged psycho Slim J is and was.  

MD: I loved the layout on this. It was like a War Games Lite or a Sprint War Games. Slim J started with Fury for the first five minutes, wrestling from underneath to really dominate towards the end. Nemesis came in and they began to just demolish him. Jackson came in three minutes later to even the odds and they had a big comeback. It was particularly interesting though as Slim J had to earn his part of it like he would have to in order to set up a hot tag. Nemesis had been holding the cage to keep Jackson out and it was only when Slim J was able to fight away from the noose and take over on Fury that Nemesis had to help his partner and Jackson was able to come in. The faces then slipped on a banana peel and we got a really brutal beatdown, tons of shots into the cage, and the insane visual of Slim J eating that German from the top of the cage all the way across the ring. It was an amazing distance to travel on it. Anarchy is so good at booking big moments in these matches and here it was Slim J coming back again as he was about to be hung and Jackson rising up to get his revenge as the crowd lived and breathed with his every movement and the triumphant victory. It was real folk hero stuff which is what you want in a War Games. I agree that specific things could have looked a little better in practice at times and that probably would have put it further over the top, but I'm completely behind the theory of this one.

Devil's Rejects (Azrael/Shaun Tempers/Iceberg) vs. NWA Elite (Abomination/Phil Shatter/KIMO) NWA Anarchy 7/19/08

MD: There was a moment right at the midway mark of the match, even as the announcers were laying out the stakes again, where I thought to myself "This is actually a pretty conventional tag." Of course in that moment Iceberg decided to take a bite out of Shatter's skull, so obviously it's all relative, but this was a different sort of match for these groups. It was titles vs the chance to ever challenge again, where the Elite were trying desperately to wrest some gold, at all costs, from the Rejects after a six month reign from Azrael/Tempers. What you got on one side was a fairly oddball group with KIMO's unconventional strikes and Abomination's size, but with Shatter doing the brunt of the work from underneath as the Rejects worked like a well oiled machine. Shatter had a lot of time working with these guys and taking their stuff and, to some degree, to be able to get Iceberg up when needed, including to set up the hot tag. Unexpectedly, Iceberg took huge bumps in the process. They had a great moment at the end where the managers were taken out on the apron and everyone crashed into each other to set up the finish. Ultimately everyone worked to put over KIMO which was a choice in time, I guess. The Elite's team never really seemed to gel here (Abomination was really just there, an absence in your vision in his all black gear), but Shatter held up things well considering he had the Rejects to work against.

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Fujiwara Family: BattlArts B-My Baby 11/5/97

BattlArts 11/5/97

Ikuto Hidaka vs. Mamoru Okamoto 

PAS: This goes really long for a undercard young guys match, but they have enough cool stuff to fill the time for sure. Okamoto was the bigger hitter, and he threw a couple of nasty kicks including a high kick which crossed Hidaka's eyes and some body kicks, he also had some simple but deeply executed submissions. Hidaka was early and career but started to mix in his fancy stuff, flipping senton, flying armbar and a cool victory roll into a kneebar for a tap. This probably would have been better at 10 minutes instead of 16, but I enjoyed what we got. 

Carl Greco vs Takeshi Ono 

PAS: These two guys are the badass B-Sides of BattlArts, Ishikawa, Ikeda, Otsuka, those guys are the big radio hits, the encore songs, Ono and Greco are the deep cuts  BattlArts super fans really love. This was killer stuff, almost all on the mat and full of grappling at the level wrestling has rarely reached. Greco is one of the best to ever do it, he moves in and out of holds with such grace and speed, constant movement, always looking to improve his position or twist a body in a different way. Ono is super skilled on the mat too, and looks a little outclassed, but in a way that fits the story of the match. We only get a couple of reckless Ono strike flurry, and maybe could have used one more, this is the midcard version of this match, a main event version could have been an all time classic. 

Yuki Ishikawa vs Mohammed Yone 

PAS: This was really cool too, man could BattlArts deliver on a show. Yone jumps Ishikawa before the bell, and the story of the match was Yone trying to earn his stripes against the top dog, and failing. It was a very Tenryuish performance from Ishikawa, except more nasty chokes from the ground and less short jabs. Loved how Ishikawa turned it up in the final moments, Yone fights the German suplex attempt, and Yuki lands two jumping headbutts to the back of his head, hits a German, lands another gross headbutt to the back of the head and sinks in a choke. I have been rabbit punched before, I hope Yone had someone sitting with him at night to make sure his brain didn't swell. 

Minoru Tanaka vs Masao Orihara 

PAS: Really fun mix of BattlArts style and sleazy Orihara shit. I am a low voter on Tanaka, especially on this rewatch, but he was really good here, using BattlArts style to counter Orihara's low blows and moonsaults. He aggressively takes him to the mat and works on an ankle pick which Orihara escapes by punching him in the dick. Eventually Tanaka just gets fed up and kicks him to death, winging hard shots at the kind of gross looking bandage on Orihara's arm until he brings his head low and gets put to sleep. I wonder if that bandage was from a wrestling injury or a shooting gallery abscess. 

Daisuke Ikeda vs Alexander Otsuka - EPIC

PAS: Big time violent BattlArts main event. Ikeda is a bulldozer here, opening the match by stuffing an Otsuke shoot with a uncalled for head but and a running stomp to Otsuka's face sending him out of the ring. Ikeda is kicking, punching and headbutting him with real violent force, and throwing some just ungodly hacksaw lariats like he is reaping wheat.  Otsuka meanwhile is focusing on the mat, with some slick looking leglocks, a tight triangle, and a really awesome looking la magistral into a chickenwing choke. This builds to a really epic finishing run with Ikeda throwing massive KO shots, dazing Otsuka all around the ring, only for Otsuka to duck under and catch a couple of his monster suplexes, including a brutal dragon which was able to get the KO. Ikeda was almost like an MMA fighter who throws so many huge power punches that he gassed himself out, with Otuska being able to rag doll his way to an upset. Great stuff between two all timers. 

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Fujiwara Family: BattlArts Tag Battle 1996 12/21/96

12/21/96

Alexander Otsuka/Yuki Ishikawa vs. Carl Greco/Viktor Kruger

ER: As much as I appreciate Greco and Kruger coordinating their trunks for a Tag Battle League, I can't help but think this match could have been a classic had Greco chosen someone a little more interesting than Kruger as his partner. Kruger is a guy who gives us the answer to the question nobody ever asks, which is "What would shootstyle Jungle Jim Steele be like?" His power strikes feel like the weakest strikes of the match (those clubbing forearms are bad Power Plant trainee personified), but I did like when he was trying to use his size to hyperextend Otsuka's knee, and at least his late match powerbomb on Ishikawa and especially the KO splash mountain bomb on Otsuka looked great. The rest of this was just me being excited at our next shot at Greco vs. either Otsuka or Ishikawa. Greco brings such great energy to his mat scrambling, and he vs. Otsuka is one of my favorite BattlArts pairings in history. Otsuka is a guy who will throw incredible suplexes, and his suplexes on Greco make it feel like Otsuka is twice Greco's size. Seeing Greco tangle with Ishikawa you get the sense that a finishing sub could come at any time, and it's fascinating to just zone out and watch them each work three holds in advance, going after an ankle while also having a crossface in mind, always cool stuff. I loved when Ishikawa and Otsuka trapped Greco in a tandem Boston crab, really looked like they were going to wishbone the guy, and Ishikawa mocking Kruger while applying the hold made it that much sweeter. Again, thought the match ending powerbomb on Otsuka was sick, but Kruger needs to bring it in the finals. 

PAS: I didn't hate Kruger in this, he comes in with a terrible looking legdrop, and those Vader forearms were awful, but I liked the idea of a giant German guy using his size to bulldoze smaller guys. It is really just the drop off, Greco is such a talent, that any time he is on the apron you want him in the match. Kyle Kuzma is a fine player but if LeBron is on the bench, the Lakers are going to get outscored. The Greco vs. Otsuka and Greco vs. Ishikawa exchanges are as brilliant as they always are, Ishikawa and Greco just grapple and it is great to watch. I liked Kruger's finishing powerbomb, felt like a KO shot, but he was clearly a big step down. 

Daisuke Ikeda/Takeshi Ono vs. TAKA Michinoku/Shoichi Funaki-FUN

ER: This was fine, but shootstyle removes all of the most interesting parts of Kaientai's game, and the match is also unexpectedly controlled by them, so you mostly get Taka and Funaki just throwing stomps and locking on submissions directly next to the ropes. Was this their strategy? Because it felt like every time they locked on an armbar or kneebar it was right in the ropes and immediately broken up by the ref. It was odd. Their coolest bit of submission work was even a kind of a copy of the tandem Boston crab from the prior match, with Taka and Funaki focusing more on wishboning Ono's legs (like I thought Ishikawa and Otsuka were going to do) rather than turning it. Ikeda is always nice when working guys like Funaki, never outright massacres the guys who aren't real killers, so he still hits several headbutts but they aren't thrown with the math-forgetting intensity that he'll throw them against Yuki, his Brother in Lost Brain Cells. Taka does not get as much leniency, as Ikeda lays him right out with a mean as hell lariat that upended Taka like he was hit by a Yugo. I think I would have liked this more as a style clash, with both teams playing to their strengths, rather than one team dominating at a style they aren't nearly as good at.  

PAS: Hard not to see this as a disappointment. I have seen really great PWFG TAKA and PWFG Funaki, but they didn't full embrace that style. Instead of really going hard on the mat, you had long sections of kind of dull figure fours and boston crabs, it felt like Brad Armstrong and Ted DiBiase killing time until a loaded glove finish. I really liked the opening asskicking rush by Ono and Ikeda although it kind of promised a match we didn't end up getting. There were a couple of mid match moments of dickness from Ono and a big Ikeda lariat, which keep this from being skippable, but it was a miss for me. 

Daisuke Ikeda/Takeshi Ono vs. Carl Greco/Viktor Kruger - GREAT

ER: I liked this but - as with the other two matches - this never really kicks into that higher gear the best Batt matches get to. We get some fun brief double teaming on Kruger (Ono hitting him in ring while Ikeda throws kicks at his kidneys and back of head from the apron), and a lot of Ikeda and Ono ripping apart Greco. Ono was a real dickhead, which is Ono at his best. He punked Greco the whole time they tangled, throwing in small unprofessional shots to set up something bigger. He punched Greco in his braced knee right before dropping back with a kneebar, and any time he had mount he would just grind his forearms and elbows across whatever part of Greco's body is most convenient. Ono here makes me want a wrestler who just does this, no real offense, just digs his elbows into a guy's flesh every single chance he gets. I have no clue how Greco got anything done, with an elbow or fist constantly digging into his jaw or eyebrow or collarbone. Ono is the master of annoyance, never holding still, the guy who will crank on Greco's neck with no intention to actually lock on a neck submission, just being annoying in painful ways. By the time Greco finally tagged out to Kruger, I was excited to see Kruger stick up for his boy, but he doesn't really have it in him. Kruger is lost on the mat and it's exciting to see the much smaller Ono completely fearless with him, shooting in for a takedown and kicking away at him, tagging in Ikeda for more kicks. Kruger can really only cover up and absorb attacks while waiting to catch a limb, and I do like the payoff over shoulder powerbomb he crushes Ikeda with for the KO. Part of me likes that he has this killshot powerbomb, but perhaps a bigger part of me is annoyed he does basically nothing other than take shots and hit his one finish. 

PAS: I am higher on this than Eric. I thought the use of Kruger in this match was really good, he mostly just stays out of the way and lets us get awesome Greco sections against Ono and Ikeda. He gets really worked over by a pair of legendary cheap shot artists in Ono and Ikeda so when he finally comes in for the final run he looks like a killer, huge wild stiff shots, like he decided "Fuck it, if these tiny guys are going to pop me, I am popping them back" and the final powerbomb was an exclamation point. Of course most of the match was Ono and Greco rolling hard with Greco being a wizard and Ono being a nasty little asshole. I need to seek out some singles between the two, I am sure they happened and they have such great chemistry, two guys who never stop attacking, always looking to adjust and sink in something different or tighter. I agree with Eric that this didn't hit the level of the best BattlArts tags, but that level is so high that it still leaves plenty of room underneath for great stuff. 

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Fujiwara Family: BattlArts Final Fight in X-Mas 12/25/96

12/25/96

Kazumasa Fujimoto vs. Michiya Chiba 

PAS: Not sure who either of these guys are, and this was 2 minutes of rolling until Chiba gets an ankle pick for the tap in 2 minutes. Nothing to see here, keep it moving. 

Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Satoshi Yoneyama 

PAS: This was a fun little match up with a pre NOI Mohammed Yone.  I enjoyed how much these guys were bending each other on knee bars and boston crabs, I tweaked my back earlier this week and I clearly need Yone to stretch me out. Hoshikawa was fun in this environment, nice snap kicks, cool submissions willingness to push the pace. Yone had a a couple of cool looking flip kicks, hitting a couple before getting one caught and bent into a one leg crab for the tap. 

Yuki Ishikawa vs. Minoru Tanaka 

PAS: Isikawa's trainer really mastered this kind of wiley technician versus pretty boy kicker match, and it is fun to watch Ishikawa do his riff on Fujiwara vs. Takada or Funaki. Tanaka tries to overwhelm Ishikawa with speed and athleticism, only to see Ishikawa use skill to find places to attack. Ishikawa had some of the nastiest pro-wrestling ground and pound in this match, cracking Tanaka with hard knuckle out punches to the side of the head and ribs. Tanaka hit a wild flurry of shots, for two downs near the end of the match, really hard and super fast. He hits two big suplexes on Ishikawa for close near falls, only to let Yuki get hold of his arm for a nasty hammerlock submission. 

ER: I think before watching this match I had only seen one other Ishikawa/Tanaka singles match. This isn't a typical pairing I think of in BattlArts, even though they were there at the same time for many years. I thought this was fantastic though, as Tanaka was using his quickness to escape holds and had really fast application that kept Ishikawa scrambling. This really is a Fujiwara vs. striker match, the kind where Fujiwara takes maybe 20% of the match and then finally pulls off the thing he's been thinking about the whole match. Tanaka was super speedy and hit hard, and the way he and Ishikawa got tangled was always cool. I loved them fighting over a heel hook, and once Tanaka got the better grip Ishikawa just punched him right in the bandaged elbow. Tanaka even gives him a little "seriously!?" kind of look before wrenching in the hold. Ishikawa is mean when he gets the chance to be, like when he got in mount and threw a couple filthy punches down into Tanaka's jaw, but I thought for sure that Tanaka was going to tap him once he got him into a snug triangle. You could really see Ishikawa quickly running out of options before he just desperately rolled his body toward the ropes for the break. After I saw Ishikawa punch that bandaged elbow in the heel hook, I know it was on his mind, and I saw him reach for it again while trying to break a subsequent hold. So once he hit that awesome trap arm double underhook suplex to stun Tanaka I was not surprised in the least that he went straight to that hammerlock sub on that bandaged elbow. Awesome sub 10 minute match from a BattlArts singles match pairing I never think about.  

Daisuke Ikeda/Alexander Otsuka vs. Katsumi Usuda/Takeshi Ono - EPIC

PAS: BattlArts style main event tags are about the surest best in wrestling history, and this was another barnburner. Ikeda and Ono are an incredible tag team, but also amazing opponents, they throw shots with such reckless abandon at each other, and turn every exchange into a high wire act where someone is moments away from going to sleep. Otsuka is a magician as well, his level switches and throws are so much fun to watch and he brings a different spice to match with three big kickers. I thought the finish run was some wild stuff, and Ono sleeping Otsuka with a big knee felt like a huge moment for him. Ono is a monster talent, but he seemed slotted a bit below the rest of the BattlArts big four (the other three in this match and Ishikawa) so it was great that he got to show the thunder in his hands and feet to win this one.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DAISUKE IKEDA 

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Fujiwara Family: BattlArts Yuki Ishikawa 15th Anniversary Show 7/21/07

This show is available, along with a ton of late 00s BattlArts on IWTV

Katsumi Usuda vs. Keita Yano

PAS: Looking back on my early 2010's reviews Tom and I hated Yano as he just got completely up his own ass and started trying to jack ROH moves from tapes. I have heard from people I semi-trust that recent Yano is weird and cool, in 2007 he was hueing more closely to the style and he was a fine basic opponent for Usuda. I liked Yano starting the match with a sneak high kick to try to catch the veteran sleeping. Usuda is never not worth watching, and he throws some big hard kicks like he want to do. I also liked him adjusting his kneebar to really torque the leg for the finish. Replacement level Usuda match, but that is a nice level. 

Toshie Uematsu vs. Carlos Amano

PAS: This was solid joshi wrestling with a bunch of nifty mat counters. I especially loved Uematsu putting Amano in a kneebar, catching Amano's leg when she tried to kick out of it and putting in a figure four. Amano also had some nifty work both in the guard and trying to clear Uematsu's guard. I wish the strikes landed with some more thump, weakness there kept this from being a real standout, but it was worth watching nonetheless. 

Kyosuke Sasaki vs. Yuta Yoshikawa

PAS: This didn't do much for me. It was pretty much all striking, and Sasaki landed a great solebutt to the stomach, punt to the face combo, but outside of that there was nothing memorable. Lots of strike, make a face, other guy throws a strike exchanges, and the final KO needed to be a lot more brutal on a show with Ikeda in the main event. 

Fujita Hayato vs. Munenori Sawa

PAS: This was a way better version of the stand and trade type of match. I liked the story of Sawa having the faster hands and feet, but Hayato landing the big shots. Hayato always fit in the Fujiwara Family feds great whenever he showed up, his default is crowbar and he lands some big thumping shots. Sawa had a little more horseshit then I prefer, his Mutoh aping never looks good, and I don't know about a figure four as a finishing submission in a shoot style fight. I did like how Hayato kept slapping the shit out him to try to break the hold, by the time Hayato tapped Sawa's nose and mouth were bloody. 

Alexander Otsuka/Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda/Manabu Hara - EPIC

PAS: These fucking guys. What absolute legends. Most people celebrate big milestones like Anniversaries by inviting some friends to dinner, maybe spending a weekend in Vegas. Ishikawa spends it by inviting his buddies over to kick the ever loving shit out of each other. Hara isn't my first choice for the fourth in this tag, but he is on eleven here, from opening up the match by dropping Ishikawa with a high kick to his killer final stanza against Otsuka, career performance for him. Of course the other three are incredible too, Ikeda spends much of the match sniping, anytime Otsuka or Ishikawa puts a submission on Hara, Ikeda is coming in hot, with full force kicks to the head. Ishikawa and Ikeda also have a couple of their legendary back and forths, as nasty and grotesque and you would expect from those two. Otsuka maybe the star of the match though. He mostly faces off against Hara and eats big shots again and again trying to get close enough to unleash hell with suplexes. At one point he counters a Hara kneebar attempt by grabbing him and chucking him with a German suplex. He and Ishikawa also hit an awesome enzigiri/German combo and finishes Hara with a dragon suplex on his head. These matches are made on their final showdowns and this one had a great one.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DAISUKE IKEDA

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Fujiwara Family: Bad Boy's BattlArts 10/2+10/4/96

 Bad Boy's Battlarts

10/2/96

Katsumi Usuda vs. Minoru Tanaka

PAS: This was a chance to see both of these guys very young in their careers, and both already had a lot of what made them great (and Tanaka hadn't really developed his bad habits yet). Tanaka has very fast hands and feet and while he didn't land with the force of Usuda, he was often able to land two to Usuda's one. Usuda meanwhile got his feet moving and landed some huge whip kicks including one which caught Tanaka right on the temple, Tanaka did a great semi-concussed sell of that kick (or just got his bell rung, it is always a bit hard to tell in BattlArts), but Usuda got a bit overzealous to finish him off and got spun into a kneebar. Crazy how talented these kids were.

Yuki Ishikawa/Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda/Takeshi Ono - EPIC

PAS: This is one of the earliest Ikeda and Ono tags and man did these guys mesh early. This match had Hoshikawa trying to prove he could hang with the BattlArts elite. He had his moments, but eventual just get beaten into an unconscious pulpy mess. I liked how they used his MPRO style in the appropriate moments but made it look Battlartsy, Ishikawa bull rushes Ikeda into the corner so Hoshikawa can crush him with a dropkick. There was also a cool double rolling kneebar. Of course putting a submission on a Takeshi Ono tag partner is one of the great mistakes in wrestling history, he is just an incredible dickhead, and he will wing a snap kick right to your eye, as of course will Ikeda. We get some nice Ikeda nad Ishikawa mat rolling, all of which ended with a sick punch or headbutt. Hoshikawa eats a bunch of really nasty kicks and ends up staring at the lights with blood pooling in his mouth.

10/4/96

Shoichi Funaki vs. Minoru Tanaka

PAS: This was a match with a tremendous singular focus. Funaki was going after the leg, and hit it with dropkicks and kneebars, and elbow drops. Tanaka sells the leg the whole match until he hits a spinning cross armbreaker for the flash submission. Technically solid work although nothing particularly compelling. 

Yuki Ishikawa/Katsumi Usuda vs. Daisuke Ikeda/Takeshi Ono - EPIC

PAS: This is JIP about 3 minutes in, but we obviously get the lion's share of the brutality. This was the uncut raw, no baking soda in this match, four of the nastiest violentist guys in wrestling history flinging full force punches and kicks until someone can't stand. We join the match on some matwork, but quickly move into Usuda decimating Ikeda in the corner with body and head kicks, much of the early part of this footage was Usuda beating and being beat upon, Ishikawa doesn't tag in for a while, of course when he does, he contributes straight punches and headbutts. This match seemed especially hard on the ribs and kidney's, the body kicks were as nasty as anything you are going to see outside of Shinya Hashimoto. There is a great moment near the end of the match where Usuda and Ono are strafing each other in the ring and and out of the corner of your eye you catch Ikeda and Ishikawa pummeling each other on the floor. The final Ikeda kick to Ishikawa bent Yuki's neck at a really scary angle. The fact that this was just their regular weekly tag match is ungodly, how are any of these guys still alive 25 years later?

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DAISUKE IKEDA

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE FUJIWARA FAMILY

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Fujiwara Family: BattlArts 3/25/00

BattlArts 3/25/00

Mohammed Yone vs. Ryuji Yamakawa

PAS: This was a Yamakawa match rather then an Yone match, and does a nice job of showing the variety that was on an average BattlArts card, everything wasn't Ikeda kicks to the eye. This was a fine hardcore brawl, Yone takes a suplex to the floor through a couple of tables, Yamakawa bleeds just to bleed and finishes the match with a nasty clothesline. Nothing that would go on either guys resume tape, but fun nonetheless.

Minoru Tanaka vs. Ikuto Hidaka

PAS: This was a 2000s juniors match with the only really BattlArts flavor being some knee bars and head kicks, but it was a heck of 2000s juniors match. Hidaka is really great at flying into things, diving knee bars, flying chokes, spring board dropkicks on knees. Tanaka has some cool rolling attacks too, and just hurls Hidaka on top of his head and kicks him in the face. There was a Tanaka dragon suplex which was as cool as that move has ever been thrown. Tanaka gets his knee taken apart, but sells it sporadically, which is a problem, but kind of par for the course. 19 minute Juniors matches are very much not my thing, but this was as good as that is going to get.

Shinobu Kandori/Mach Junji vs. COW COW/Takeshi Ono - FUN

PAS: Shinobu Kandori and Takeshi Ono are two of the coolest wrestlers of all time, so of course this tag match turns into a Mach Junji vs. COW COW showdown. Ono and Kandori are stuck mostly breaking up pins as COW COW and Junji face off. Not sure who COW COW was, but his execution on stuff was pretty good, nice german suplex and a stiff clothesline, so I didn't mind the match, but this was about the most uninteresting way it could have been worked.

Alexander Otsuka/Kazunari Murakami vs. Naoki Sano/Yuki Ishikawa

PAS: Look at this lineup, just four of the most badass wrestlers ever working a long BattlArts tag. We know what a great matchup Ishikawa vs. Murakami is, and it is awesome in this match too. Murakami is frenzied as usual and he and Ishikawa go after each other early with Ishikawa dumping him with a side suplex and Murakami using these amazing Judo throws. Most people think of Murakami as a guy who would just throw crazy punches and kicks and mean mug, but he had maybe the best Judo throws in wrestling history, he would just hurl the guy he was wrestling with incredible speed and tremendous force. We also got a bunch of Otsuka matching up with Sano, which is something that happened a couple of other times in tags, but was just incredible stuff. They had super fast takedowns and grappling exchanges, constantly moving and looking for the smallest advantages. These are also a pair of guys who will stretch the boundaries of BattlArts style and we also got a great tope by Sano and a pescado by Otsuka. The match breaks down first into an Ishikawa vs. Murakami final run, which included Otsuka breaking up a save by destroying Sano with a Everest German, and then a Sano vs. Murakami section with some nasty exchanged kicks and submission scrambles. It goes to a thirty minute draw which deprives us of a finish but does give us 30 minutes of these guys, so a good trade off.

Daisuke Ikeda vs. Katsumi Usuda - EPIC

PAS: Usuda is sort of the Akira Taue of the Battlarts big four, a little less flashy, a little less regarded, but equally able to deliver the goods when needed. He comes out wilding here, super aggressive and total pushing the pace to Ikeda, winging hard kicks to his head and body. You don't usually see Ikeda having to work off the back foot, it was a really cool different look for him. Even when Ikeda lands a side suplex, Usuda is able to grab an arm and work a keylock. Ikeda is able to land some big kicks of his own and one of his lead pipe clotheslines right on the ropes, I have no idea how Ikeda didn't break his forearm or Usuda's jaw or both. Finish is really great, with Usuda being a little reckless trying for a guillotine choke allowing Ikeda to slip first into a Fujiwara and then into a nasty choke sleeper which whitens Usuda's eyes. Really felt like Usuda had his number, but Ikeda was able to use his aggression against him. Maybe the most Fujiwarish Ikeda performance I can remember seeing. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE SHINOBU KANDORI

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DAISUKE IKEDA

FUJIWARA FAMILY 

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The Fujiwara Family: Complete and Accurate UWF, UWF Reborn, RINGS, PWFG, BattlArts, FUTEN, UFO, BAP

The best of all wrestling, here are all our full show reviews in one place.

1985

UWF 4/23/85

1990

UWF 1/16/90

UWF 2/9/90

UWF 2/27/90

UWF 4/15/90

UWF 5/4/90

UWF 5/28/90

UWF 6/21/90

1991

PWFG 3/4/91

RINGS 5/11/91
PWFG 5/19/91
PWFG 7/26/91

RINGS 8/1/91
PWFG 8/23/91

RINGS 9/14/91
PWFG 9/28/91
PWFG 10/17/91
PWFG 11/3/91

RINGS 12/7/91

1992

PWFG 1/15/92

PWFG 2/24/92
PWFG 4/19/92
PWFG 5/15/92

PWFG 6/5/92
PWFG 7/27/92
PWFG 8/15/92
PWFG 9/2/92
PWFG 10/4/92
PWFG 12/5/92

1993

PWFG 6/1/93
PWFG 7/21/93
PWFG 9/23/93

PWFG 10/29/93

1994

PWFG 2/28/94

PWFG 6/4/94
PWFG 9/28/94
PWFG 9/13/94
PWFG 10/31/94

1995

PWFG 5/19/95

PWFG 6/18/95

PWFG 8/12/95
PWFG 8/26/95

PWFG 11/19/95

1996

Battlarts 10/2/96

Battlarts 10/4/96
PWFG 9/23/96

Battlarts 12/21/96

Battlarts 12/25/96

1997

Battlarts 1/21/97

Battlarts 3/13/97

Battlarts 3/14/97

Battlarts 11/5/97

1998

Battlarts 4/19/98

Battlarts 4/28/98

Battlarts 5/10/98

1999

UFO 3/14/99

2000

Battlarts 3/25/00

2005

FUTEN 4/24/05

2007

Battlarts 7/21/07

2009

FUTEN 4/9/09

Battlarts 1/10/09

Battlarts 2/15/09

Battlarts 4/12/09

Battlarts 7/5/09

Battlarts 7/26/09

Battlarts 8/3/09 Show 1

Battlarts 8/3/09 Show 2

Battlarts 9/6/09

Battlarts 12/6/09

2010

BattlArts 1/17/10

FUTEN 4/22/10

FUTEN 5/3/10

FUTEN 6/27/10

FUTEN 7/25/10

FUTEN 9/26/10

FUTEN 10/24/10

FUTEN 11/24/10

FUTEN 12/19/10

2011

FUTEN 1/30/11

FUTEN 7/18/11

2012

FUTEN 1/12/12

 

2019

BAP 10/22/19

2020

BAP 2/11/20

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BattlArts Action-B 4/24/98 + 5/10/98

4/24/98

Masao Orihara/Takeshi Ono vs. Mamoru Okamoto/Masaru Seno

The Orihara and Ono weren't really BattlArtsy, but they were a total blast to watch. Seno starts off with a nice forearm, but then gets totally blizted, face kicked, dumped on his head with a Michinoku Driver and carried out of the ring. Orihara then taunts Hijikata at ringside, until he gets in the ring. He and Okamoto have a moment or two, including a german suplex, but they get worked over too and Okamoto gets powerbombed and pinned, post match they beat both guys up some more including a spiked piledriver. Fun squash which establishes Orihara and Ono as total dicks.

Alexander Otsuka/Mohammed Yone vs. Daisuke Ikeda/Katsumi Usuda-GREAT

The best BattlArts tags are this alcheminical mix of shootstyle and pro-style. This match strayed a bit too much into prostyle and missed that high level. Usuda kept throwing big demonstrative headbutts, Yone came off the tope rope, Ikeda was more rope running and less full on murder bot then I prefer him. There was of course still a lot to love in this match. Otsuka was absolutely slaughtering people with suplexes, including a head and neck throw into a choke for this finish. Any combo of these guys in a tag is going to be great, but this missed that absolute peak.

Yuki Ishikawa vs. Carl Greco

This was an absolute classic, as good as their more well known 1998 match. Greco was basically BattlArts version of Ken Shamrock, and he may have even been slicker on the mat. These are the two most skilled grapplers in BattlArts and they are rolling, grabbing necks, ankles and knees and twisting. Greco has one of the best tendon locks I have seen, he grabs it super fast and really looks like he is shredding tendons. There is some great stuff with Greco taking Ishikawa's back and squeezing a body lock and Ishikawa countering with foot lock. There is some really nasty striking too, some nasty body shots and ground and pound by Ishikawa and an awesome spin kick by Greco. We all know how great Ishikawa is, but the more I watch Greco I think he is a hidden all-timer too.

5/10/98

Masao Orihara/Takeshi Ono vs. Mamoru Okamoto/Ryuji Hijikata

Another fun Orihara and Ono tag as they beat on some lower card guys. Again there wasn't much BattlArts flavor to this, outside of Ono trying to take everyones heads off with kicks. There was some looseness to what Okamoto and Hijikata were throwing, and you can tell why they were slotted where they were. I did like them double stomping Ono, that guy is so skinny that you almost expect their boots to go through his body.  I am excited to check out Ono and Orihara against guys higher up the ladder.

Alexander Otsuka vs. Katsushi Takemura

Takemura is a NJ young guy and gets taken to the woodshed by Otsuka. Otsuka is a great guy to take apart a rookie, and he dumps him on his head with some nasty suplexes, including turning a trapped guillotine choke into a no protection DDT, and high angle piledrive. Takemura gets a nice German of his own, but this was mostly an opportunity to watch Otsuka unload.

Daisuke Ikeda/Gran Naniwa/Yone Genjin vs. Carl Greco/Ikuto Hidaka/Yuki Ishikawa

This was an elimination trios match with some pretty crazy teams. On paper you would think this would come down to a big Ishikawa vs. Ikeda showdown, but Ishikawa is weirdly the first guy eliminated, getting dumped over the top rope. We do get some really great Ishikawa moments first, including him dumping Naniwa square on his head a couple of times, blasting Yone in the ear with a slap and having a cool section versus Ikeda with all you would expect from a taste of that match up. With Ishikawa out early we get to see a lot of the other guys match up with Ikeda and it is pretty great stuff, Hidaka tries a bunch of flipping submission attempts only to homicided by an Ikeda clothesline, landing directly on the top of his head. We get a great Greco vs. Yone and Ikeda section, with Greco being an absolute marvel, whipping off incredibly slick submission counters on Yone. Unfortunately, there is nothing worse then executing a beautiful submission hold when Ikeda is waiting on the apron, as Ikeda tries to drive his foot and knee through Greco's skull every time he has an opening. Totally fun to watch Greco fight against the odds, an oddball set up for a match which totally works.

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BattlArts Battle Rock 97 3/13/97-3/14/97

3/13/97

Minoru Tanaka vs. Katsumi Usuda

PAS: Minoru Tanaka was an evolution of the pretty boy shootstyist, Takada, Funaki and Tanaka. Those guys are never my favorites, I want my shootstyle guy to have the fury of a ugly dude. No one would every confuse Usuda with a boy band member, and he brings the heat here. Tanaka eventually went fully into juniors wrestling, but he was a Battlartist here and had a lot of skill. Match starts with a lot of leg fighting and feeling out. Usuda steps it up with a snap german suplex and a punt to the face for a near fall. After that it ramps up and gets violent, with both guys throwing and racking limbs. Loved the finish, with Tanaka passing guard super fast and getting a nasty kneebar for the tap.

Takeshi Ono vs. Alexander Otsuka

PAS: This was great, although a little minor key. I just love both of these guys, and it is really cool to see how there divergent styles work in concert. Much of the match is Ono throwing kicks and punches, and Otsuka trying to use head movement to slip in and grab Ono and hurl him violently. Otsuka is any discussion of greatest suplexers in wrestling history, and Ono is spindly enough that he can really manhandle him, there are a couple of Taz on Pablo Marquez level suplexes in this match but Ono will fire back with some real face punts and hard punches. Liked the finish, which was not how I was expecting this to go at all.

Yuki Ishikawa/Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda/Shoichi Funaki - EPIC

PAS: This was a match of different styles which meshed pretty well. Hoshikawa vs. Funaki was much more a MPRO match then a BattlArts match, when they first tag in they exchange rapid fire chest slaps, which is very much not BattlArts, still their exchanges were exciting stuff, and Ikeda vs. Ishikawa was as great as that match up normally is, young Ikeda gave as few a fucks as older Ikeda but with really fast twitch athleticism. This also had some of my favorite stuff in these tags, where someone would put on a submission or pin attempt leaving them open for a hellacious break up. Ikeda especially just gets such joy walking in the ring and teeing off on a prone opponent. Hoshikawa threw similar heat when he got a chance.  Finish was cool with Funaki making the mistake of trying to grapple with Ishikawa and getting totally worked and Fujiwara'ed for the tap.

3/14/97

Minoru Tanaka vs. Ikuto Hidaka

PAS: This is rookie Hidaka, and is a very short scramble, where they roll for a minute or so, until Tanaka grabs a kimura and taps him. Too short to mean much, but it had good energy.

Katsumi Usuda vs. Shoichi Funaki

PAS: Funaki was always a bit of a wonky fit for BattlArts, he had some takedowns and submissions, but was always more comfortable with a figure four or a pratfall from a kick. He is a skilled guy, and it feels like he found his right role as a long time WWF undercarder. Usuda is going to do what he does, come forward firing hard shots and throwing in some slick submissions, in many ways he is hybrid of both Ikeda and Ishikawa, he doesn't do either of their strengths at their A+ level and he doesn't have either guys charisma, but is a solid A- at both striking and matwork and is pretty much always going to be well worth watching. He shellacks Funaki here at the end, which is what I wanted to see.

Tatsuo Nakano vs. Alexander Otsuka

PAS: This was a cool match with lots of real examples of skill, which didn't live up to it's on paper promise. Nakano sandbagged Otsuka a bit, not really letting him rip off any suplexes, or take much of an advantage on the mat. It was cool to watch Nakano, counter attacks, and reverse out of things and his one big stomp was the kind of nasty asshole thing that makes me love him, but letting Otsuka shine a bit could have made this incredible.

Daisuke Ikeda/Takeshi Ono vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa/Yuki Ishikawa - EPIC

PAS: Ikeda and Ono are one of the greatest tag teams of all time. Ono as a beanpole ass kicker and Ikeda as his thicker someone even nastier partner are just magic every time they are in the ring. I don't remember the period where BWO shirted Funaki was their running buddy, but he is on the outside shit stirring, and even brawls a bit with Ishikawa. I enjoyed Hoshikawa in this match, he is best known for his MPRO 10 man appearances and Zero One work, but he is fun here as a flashier BattlArts guy. He really cracks Ikeda with a top rope leg kick, and has some really nice throws. Ono is tremendous as always too, he really mixes it up with Hoshikawa, and I love how he responded to getting ragdolled bu front kicking him right in the chin.  Of course as always Ishikawa vs. Ikeda is the highlight. We have the expected level of violence, including a couple of sections where it breaks down and they start clawing at eyes. Finish has Ikeda wasting Ishikawa with an absolutely hellacious lariat, which even stands out in the category of Ikeda lariats to Ishikawa, think of what that entails.  They were doing this stuff multiple times a month, fucking nuts. The baseline for BattlArts tags is so high, this isn't the absolute tippy top, but even below that level is incredible stuff.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DAISUKE IKEDA

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Undercover Lover That's Daisuke Ikdea's Heart Now

Daisuke Ikeda/Gran Naniwa/Mohammed Yone vs. Yuki Ishikawa/Carl Greco/Ikuto Hidaka BattArts 5/10/98 - EPIC

PAS: This was an elimination trios match with some pretty crazy teams. On paper you would think this would come down to a big Ishikawa vs. Ikeda showdown, but Ishikawa is weirdly the first guy eliminated, getting dumped over the top rope. We do get some really great Ishikawa moments first, including him dumping Naniwa square on his head a couple of times, blasting Yone in the ear with a slap and having a cool section versus Ikeda with all you would expect from a taste of that match up. With Ishikawa out early we get to see a lot of the other guys match up with Ikeda and it is pretty great stuff, Hidaka tries a bunch of flipping submission attempts only to homicided by an Ikeda clothesline, landing directly on the top of his head. We get a great Greco vs. Yone and Ikeda section, with Greco being an absolute marvel, whipping off incredibly slick submission counters on Yone. Unfortunately,  there is nothing worse then executing a beautiful submission hold when Ikeda is waiting on the apron, as Ikeda tries to drive his foot and knee through Greco's skull every time he has an opening. Totally fun to watch Greco fight against the odds, an oddball set up for a match which totally works.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE IKEDA

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Accept Ikeda as He's Not and That's a Shitfit

Daisuke Ikeda v. Mitsuya Nagai BattlArts 1/30/00- FUN

Nagai is a an ex-RINGS guy and isn't great, but had his moments over the years as a crowbar. I am going to want to rewatch his Volk Han matches, to see if he can be carried to a great match, because this wasn't it. Nagai had some big thumping kicks which were the highlight here, but his legwork was pretty pedestrian, and instead of two big kickers throwing shots, both guys start climbing to the top for some reason. Silly to have a shootstyle match determined by who can hit their top rope move. I hadn't seem Ikeda use his flipping dropkick before, and it was fine that he kept that a one time move. There were some moments of violence, like you would expect from any Ikeda BattlArts match, but overall this was pretty disappointing.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE IKEDA

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Daisuke Ikeda Makes Decision with Precision

Daisuke Ikeda/Katsumi Usuda vs. Takeshi Ono/Yuki Ishikawa BattlArts 1/27/97 - EPIC

This was a battle of four all time greats at their absolute athletic peaks. All of these guys are still great wrestlers when they show up, but their style has slowed down a bit as they have moved into their 40s. Here they are all in their mid 20s and the exchanges are so much faster and explosive without surrendering any of the chilling violence. The opening of this match is a great example of the brilliance of this style, Usuda and Ono have this lighting quick intricate exchange of kneebar counters, which was ended by Ikeda running in and kicking Ono's head into the fourth row. A Sunday of skill and speed with a cherry of brutality on top. The match continues on that vein, with great exchanges by all of the participants, with all four looking great. Ikeda throws some of his classic crowbar lariats along with nasty kicks and some really good desperate leg selling. Really the kind of match that isn't done anywhere anymore, and it was such a pleasure to watch.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DAISUKE IKEDA

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

48. Yuki Ishikawa v. Sansyu -BattleArts Academy 11/14

PAS: This is our first look at Yuki Ishikawa since he moved to Canada to teach at Santino's wrestling school. This is clearly one of his students, and he is pretty giving. Ishikawa is one of the great sellers in wrestling history and he does a bang up job putting over this kids kicks, which won't remind anyone of Ikeda anytime soon. The highlights of the match are definitely when Ishikawa starts really working Sanysu over, dropping knees on his temple and elbows on his throat. The finishing scramble on the mat was a thing of beauty as well. Rest of this match was Ishikawa eating a lot of questionable stuff, which kept it from being high end, still so happy to see Yuki show up again, now someone needs to book him against the Gulak/Thatcher/Busick/Sabre Jr. group.

ER: Well this was a pleasant little surprise. Luckily Phil obsessively searches for Yuki Ishikawa stuff on youtube a few times a week so we get to see it ridiculously soon after it happens. The couple Ishikawa matches that show up every year are always awesome, but I think here is the best he's looked in years. Who knows, maybe Canadian living has healed him up a bit? Have some delicious ketchup chips and a Coffee Crisp, not get head butted into incontinence. He seemed spry, more in shape than I've seen him in ages, showed more speed than he's shown in ages, all his sprawls and everything looked so quick and agile. Being broken has kind of been a part of his character in FUTEN and other stuff and he made broken crafty vet work better than all but maybe Fujiwara. But here he was lithe and aggressive. Sansyu was fine, I didn't think he was bad, although yes his kicks were not up to normal Batt/FUTEN standards, but they still looked fine and Ishikawa always makes that stuff look great anyway, bouncing back into the ropes and crumbling at the right times. Ishikawa made them look good and Sansyu also brought a nice twisty legbar to the match. But damn Ishikawa was just great. At one point he hits this great three elbow combination that I've never seen him use before. He drops Sansyu with a brutal 12 to 6, plants a nasty quick elbowdrop, and then gets back up and drops a Bret Hart style double elbow on him. All his arm stuff looks really great, yanking that arm and knowing right where Sansyu is gonna twist to escape, Ishikawa one step ahead of him. The keylock he locks on before the end is just too good. I enjoy Yuki Ishikawa wrestling.


2014 MASTER LIST

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Daisuke Ikeda is heading for that Adult Crash

Daisuke Ikeda/Ikuto Hidaka v. Yuki Ishikawa/Mohammed Yone BattlArts 6/20/99- GREAT

Late 90's BattlArts tags are the most consistently enjoyable wrestling matches you are going to get. Any combo of 8 or so guys is guaranteed to be at least very good, and probably excellent. This had pieces of the Ikeda v. Ishikawa violence waltz we expect, punches, headbuts, kicks to the eye (seriously how has Ishikawa not learned that he shouldn't apply a submission hold when Ikeda is standing on the apron, talk about the definition of insanity), but what gave this a bit of flair, was the performances of Yone and Hidaka. Hidaka on his own or in a juniors match is pretty hit or miss, but in this arena he is really fun as a guy diving into kneebars and armbars and throwing stiff dropkicks. I also loved Yone as a bull, getting in Ikeda's face, knocking Hidaka out of mid air with a lariat, he is a fun powerhouse. Probably needed a more classic finishing run to push it into the EPIC camp, but will still be up there with the best things in the world if it happened today

Daisuke Ikeda v. Masao Inoue NOAH 6/13/14-FUN

More of an Inoue match then an Ikeda match.  I like me an Inoue match, but the best Inoue matches mix his shtick with some real drama and violence, and this was pretty much all shtick. There was a funny spot where Ikeda and Inoue whip ringside trainees into each other, and I liked Inoue winding up his arm so much that he got tired. Still Ikeda like he want to do in NOAH, just faded in the background. We need some new FUTEN

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE IKEDA

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I Felt Like Watching BattlArts

So, Rachel is on the phone with her mother, I have bourbon in my hand, can't watch Veep until Rachel is off the phone. I felt like watching BattlArts.


Alexander Otsuka vs. Katsumi Usuda, 8/3/96 (?)

Otsuka is young and slender here, like a young Yul Brynner. Otsuka is one of my all time favorite mat guys as he's always super squirmy and he always winds up in weird positions and angles from which to yank limbs and slap face. This is filmed in a weird little TV studio with a backdrop that kind of looks like a sunset. They also did pre-match pre-filmed interviews with both guys wearing tweed sport coats. Cameras film too high up so we cannot confirm elbow patches. Usuda's conservative jacket makes him look like Alex P. Keaton going on a date. So in other words everything about this is flawless from the word go. We're just a few minutes in and both guys have hyperextended each others' elbow joints and Otsuka has thrown 3 of the gnarliest deadlift belly to belly suplexes you've seen and a killer Dead End german. Usuda throws furious knees to the stomach and gets a cool roll through choke for the win. Otsuka bows in defeat. This was like 7 minutes and the most pants shittingly great Worldwide match ever. The white shirted fanny pack wearing crowd would be in stunned silence by the violence brought forth here.

Daisuke Ikeda vs. Shoichi Funaki, 8/26/96 (?)

Ikeda comes out to Fight for Your Right (to Party) so, well…this is on. Ikeda, to the shock of many, throws a kick at Funaki's face to start, but Funaki has watched tape and knows that Ikeda kicks face. So he ducks it and takes him down with a super cool single leg roll through. Ikeda's leg ended up on Funaki's shoulder, and Funaki rolls through it with a weird Rolling Olympic Hell, but as a leg takedown. Funaki takes a mean german but is crafty and holds Ikeda's arm on the way up and over so Ikeda can't capitalize. Rachel just got off the phone and walked into the room and said "why are these guys fighting in the Memphis TV studio…with a sunset in the background? It looks like a yearbook background." I love her. Funaki can go on the mat but damn is Ikeda such a bully with him, with the kicks and the forearms grinding the face. Rachel thinks Ikeda looks like an Asian Paul Koslo. Holy god Rachel needs to write for Segunda Caida. Funaki is really good in this (truthfully Funaki is the Kaientai member I am least familiar with, pre WWE run) with a kind of "barely hanging on" body chemistry, where he tries to shoot for any tiny advantage he can find whether by just tying Ikeda up so he can rest, or scrambling for any limb he can grab on the mat. Eventually though Ikeda levels Funaki with one of many from his fount of kicks, dropping Funaki to his knees. There Ikeda throws one straight to the temple for the KO and rides off into the sunset (background) to the strains of young NY twenty-somethings sleeping in, not wanting to go to high school, and high end pornography periodicals being maliciously thrown into the garbage by mothers.

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Daisuke Ikeda was the Champion of Forgive Forget

Daisuke Ikeda/Takeshi Ono v. Masao Orihara/Mohammed Yone BattlArts 6/25/99-EPIC

Man remember when Japanese wrestling was awesome? You can pretty much watch any BattlArts tag from the late 90's and it would be the Puro MOTY if it happened this year. Ikeda and Ono are maybe my favorite tag team in wrestling history, just nasty violent smarmy asskickers. Orihara and Yone were working heel in this match and we get a glorious battle of shitheads. Ono is amazing here, he has some great fast punch and kick exchanges with Orihara where both guys throw really quick hands, and slip and avoid, while mixing in nut shots. Meanwhile Yone and Ikeda are just trying to rip each others heads off with clotheslines and kicks. Watching Yone and Ikeda kill each other makes their current NOAH run even more disappointing. They have a great finishing run against each other, with Ono running around and clearing out Orihara. An example of what these guys do the best


Daisuke Ikeda/Mohammed Yone v. Takashi Sugiura/Masato Tanaka NOAH 4/2/14- FUN

This was a really good looking on-paper match, but Ikeda in NOAH is a very different beast unfortunately. This was pretty much a bog standard NOAH tag, lots of elbow smashes and clotheslines. Yone was member of the Bat-Bat team who the spotlight was placed on, and he didn't do much. There was a couple of nice Ikeda moment, one nasty kick a good headbut, but he seemed to be coasting a bit. There was a cool spot where Sugiura and Tanaka were forearming Yone at the same time on different sides of his head, but that is the only thing I am going to remember.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DAISUKE IKEDA

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Best of Japan 2000-2009: Naoki Sano vs. Minoru Tanaka, BattlArts 1/30/00

Naoki Sano vs. Minoru Tanaka, BattlArts 1/30/00

Believe it or not, years ago *this* match was my introduction to BattlArts. Not Ikeda or Ishikawa clonking coconuts and essentially signing verbal contracts guaranteeing that by the age of 50 they will wander the streets aimlessly, forget to pay bills and not recognize family members. Nope. When I first watched BattlArts my favorite type of wrestling was juniors wrestling. Phil and I have joked that we used to buy WAR shows for the Ultimo Dragon matches, now we fast forward through those matches to get to the old lumpy fatsos punching each other. But when I was a teenager, it was all cruisers. I heard of Tanaka and was into the idea of a cruiser that did a bunch of neato kicks and fast spinny matwork, and this was a match of his that was talked about a lot at the time. I watched it a bunch back then, but have not seen the match in probably over a decade.

And boy, for a match with tons of cool stuff, it does not add up to a very satisfying experience. There were tons of awesome moments. You could have made a killer 3 minute music video set to a Jim Steinman song (erm, I guess half of a Jim Steinman song...) and I'd think it looked like an incredible match. But there was just no narrative and nothing tying anything together. Tanaka is a guy with a couple of cool tricks (I remember how much I flipped the first time I saw Sano catch a kick, throw a strike and saw Tanaka catch the arm into a rolling armbar) but now it comes off more like a guy who saw a Volk Han tape, like when American indy guys saw their first T2P or Johnny Saint match. Sano looked great and attempted to keep some consistency, throwing out clues to Tanaka by stretching his knee or rubbing it, but Tanaka would just stick to randomly throwing out flashy submissions to any random limb, just because they looked cool. Sano had some killer stuff in this, including a spring-loaded missile dropkick that launched Tanaka almost into the ref, and THEE nastiest spin kick you've ever seen in your life, just perfectly catching Tanaka right under the chin in the most brutal way possible. And in maybe the perfect way to encapsulate the entire match theme, Tanaka immediately no sells it and goes for an armbar.


BEST OF JAPAN MASTER LIST

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Don't Be Afraid of Those Who Kill the Body but Cannot Kill the Soul, Instead Be Afraid of Yoshiaki Fujiwara

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Tiger Mask IV v. Carl Greco/Yuki Ishikawa BattlArts 5/5/01-EPIC

Fujiwara v. Ishikawa is the on paper highlight of this match, and their brief showdown is pretty great. Still the blow away awesome part of this is the Carl Greco v. Fujiwara matchup. Greco is an awesome agressive matworker and it is great to see Fujiwara countering his counters. Fujiwara would grab a limb, Greco would have this great fast counter, and before he could sink it in, Fujiwara would counter again. Such beautiful grappling. TMIV was more of a bruiser, landing kicks and jumping knees to the gut, and they had some nice back and forth striking with Ishikawa. Finish was a Fujiwara classic. Greco gets a hot tag and comes in house of fire, overwhelming Fujiwara with punches and kicks in the corner. Fujiwara does a great dazed sell and the ref backs Greco out, and as he charges again Fujiwara quickly catches him in a leg trap armbar for the tap. Such an awesome possum job, just love watching the old master pull one out.

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