New Footage Friday: RAVE~! DANIELSON~! MATTHEWS~ J-ROD~! LEATHERFACE~! GOTO~! COLLYER~! YONE~! RASTAMAN~! TAKESHI ONO!!!!

Leatherface vs Tarzan Goto IWA 3/1/96

MD: Really enjoyable superheavyweight collision from what we could see. We couldn't see everything, but you could fill in the blanks easily enough. This was a straightforward battle, not complicated rocket science. These guys hit like a ton of bricks, with Leatherface using his girth to bully Goto around the ring and Goto using his strength to put a stop to it. We could see things best when they were in two of the corners, but even in missing the impacts on a lot of Goto's elbow drops, you could just tell how intense the impact would be from the set up and drop off screen. He spent a good chunk of the match trying to contain Leatherface since he could monstrously swarm back at any point but was finally able to end it when he landed a few headbutts and controlled the action long enough to launch a clear whip for the clothesline. I wish we could see a bit more of it but what we could see was good stuff.

ER: Some random IWA Japan main event from 25 years pops up featuring another feather in the cap for Tarzan Goto, I'm cool watching the match from the POV of a man hiding underneath chairs while secretly recording pro wrestling. What defines a hero, anyway? This is a testament to how powerful a gas tank Goto had, as there's a lot packed into this 13 minute match and all of it is very active. He hits hard with punches and shoulderblocks, and manages to make every lariat hit harder than the last (they all look finisher worthy). Goto is so active, constantly leaping onto Leatherface's body, dropping heavy horizontal elbowdrops (Goto had the finest elbowdrop form of any native in Japanese wrestling), just ATTACKING Leatherface. And I laugh, thinking of this burly solid Japanese man in a Tarzan singlet working over Leatherface's leg in the backwoods of Texas. 

Rick Patterson is such a presence as Leatherface, and I'm sure we all have early tape trader memories of getting a death match comp and seeing this giant guy named Leatherface running through a gymnasium with a chainsaw. Goto's legwork is pretty violent, and as this is an untaped house show we really get to see how much of a Japanese Finlay he was. Every time he jumped on Leatherface's leg it looked nasty, and while Leatherface is huge, Goto has lariats strong enough to sent him flying over the top to the floor. Leatherface has a cool out of control reckless energy, like how he sends his legs flying as he bumps for those lariats or how he throws the sloppiest missile dropkick...except it's a 6'6 350 lb. man in a mask and wig and jeans and apron attempting to throw a missile dropkick. Goto saves some real dynamite for the finishing stretch, including an insane brainbuster (crazy to even try one on a guy this big). Awesome, weird find.

PAS: The parts of this we saw were pretty dope, just a pair of big corn fed guys pounding on each other. Goto had such certainty and force with everything he did. I loved his little uppercuts, such a great strike, and Leatherface's big looping rights looked great too. I wish we could have seen some of the crowd brawling, I imagine it would have been awesome. Both Goto suplexes looked killer, as did Leatherfaces's awkward tumbling top rope drop kick. I love that this finished with a hooking lariat. Goto threw great ones, and that is the kind of thing that would even drop a giant manifestation of evil. 

Chad Collyer/Rastaman vs. Takeshi Ono/Mohammed Yone BattlArts 6/3/00

PAS: Chad Collyer has been uploading a bunch of cool handhelds from his personal collection. We covered a couple of Danielson matches a while back, and he just dropped another big batch. This is a BattlArts tag which is something we are of course going to jump on. Takeshi Ono is an all time great wrestler with a very limited tape footprint, so new Ono is a celebration. I thought most of this match was a bit meandering, but like most BattlArts tags it ended with a big showdown. This was Rastaman versus Ono and it was pretty damn great. Takeshi unloads the kitchen sink on Rastaman and it is a deep sink. He turns him all around, landing a crazy combo in the corner, a big straight right hand and a furious Octopus attempt. Rasta is so much bigger and he is able to eat all of that, then land a decapitating lariat and an armbar for the tap. This wasn't much up until the finish, but a heck of a finish. 

MD: This took a little bit to get going but became a nice varied sprint once it did. I liked Collyer taking Yone's shots and feeding into Ono's grappling and unveiling a really nice series of leglocks from a number of different entry points. Rastaman was electric whenever he was in there, just a big force that'd either hit something interesting or take something interesting, until the end when Ono looked positively heroic against him, right up until he didn't. 

ER: Active 10 minute tag with everyone throwing stiff strikes and taking bumps on a hard mat. This was a fun showcase for Rastaman, as you get some lumbering presence with actual cool spots. He press slams Ono back into the ring, hits a wild kick combo in the corner that ends with a spinkick across Yone's jaw, he takes some complicated Ono combos and levels him with a lariat, then tries to break Ono's arm in half with the sick trapped neck armbar finish. Collyer was good at absorbing heavy kicks from the Batt duo, with Yone especially going after Collyer's ribs with heavy kicks and dropping him with hard bodyslams. It's a little formless, but that doesn't really matter when guys are running in making up spinning heel kicks on the fly. Cool look into what was happening on some post peak Batt house shows, with regulars still working hard and odd style clash gaijin throwing a wrench into things. 

Bryan Danielson vs. Jimmy Rave vs. Kyle Matthews vs. J-Rod RPW 7/31/10

MD: Danielson was, in some ways, in the 80s Flair role here. The world revolved around him even though local issues were at play. His presence allowed the promotion to drive them forward. Rave was the TV champ. J-Rod was his biggest challenger. Matthews was his protege. The first two thirds were good with the highlights being the more story-focused work, when Rave and Matthews both ended up in the ring against each other, for instance, or the cracks of miscommunication between them. J-Rod got solid rub just for being there and for outlasting Rave. The match really picked up when it was just Danielson vs Matthews though. Matthews was still a young lion here and this felt like the sort of match that would make him, at least in the territory if not in the wider community. Danielson switched gears when it was just the two of them and went more aggressive and almost heelish, dismantling the arm. It was pretty vicious, masterful stuff, with Matthews having to fight back at a severe disadvantage, but Danielson was super giving in his role, letting him escape from the Cattle Mutilation and giving him not just hope spots but some very good and meaningful nearfalls as well, as well as taking a huge dive. The last ten minutes were an excellent, star-making exercise from both Danielson and a very game Matthews.

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Matches from NOAH Mohammed Yone 25th Anniversary 10/18/20

 

Alexander Otsuka/Mohammed Yone vs. Akitoshi Saito/Masao Inoue

ER: It's 2020 and these boys have all beefed up to the degree that Akitoshi Saito might be the smallest man in the match. Otsuka especially needs to just sport Butcher singlets at this point. He looks like best possible Dana White. Inoue brings his failson charisma to this early, attacking Yone at the bell and having it immediately blow up in his face when Saito ducks out of the way of a clothesline that Inoue doesn't. So Inoue spends the next several moments taking legdrops and axe handles all while holding his stomach as if he just won a hot dog eating contest and his friends keep trying to hit his belly. The tone changes noticeably when Saito finally tags in, as Yone starts throwing big impact lariats to counter the heavy leather Saito comes in swinging. Saito/Otsuka is a dream pairing that's hardly happened, and we get only a taste here (ending with a great Otsuka German suplex). There's funny Inoue stuff, like Saito dropping Yone before tagging out and Inoue getting into the ring and stretching his back before just running and covering Yone. Inoue does some eye rakes, he and Saito run at Yone with some slow back elbows and lariats, and Inoue does more selling where it looks like he accidentally walked into a screen door. I was shocked to see Otsuka break out the giant swing on Inoue, but happy to see it. Everyone is a little sluggish here (they're old and meatier, it happens), but I laughed all throughout Inoue shaky legs falling to the mat every time Yone tried running at him. This is the kind of match that would have been a 2004 list match, but still makes me smile in 2020. 

PAS: This is more an Eric thing then a Phil thing. I am here to see Otsuka and we don't get enough of him to make it worth my time. I appreciate Inoue comedy, although conversely it works better in a more serious atmosphere then in a match with other people up for the yuks.  I thought Yone unable to hit a move on Inoue because Inoue is too old, but he is also too old to successfully execute a roll up, so it goes both ways.  

Daisuke Ikeda/Ikuto Hidaka/Mohammed Yone vs. Yuki Ishikawa/Naomichi Marufuji/Junji Tanaka

ER: This was great, and could have been even greater had it been worked more like a WAR or Kings Road or Futen trios. The ingredients were there but it doesn't take advantage of some of the built up drama and instead pays it off in more of a feelgood anniversary show finish than heat, but the highs are way way up there. We get this awesome surprising big babyface performance from Junji Tanaka all throughout this tag that really plays as the unexpected highlight, but the people you went in hoping to see perform, all performed. The Yone/Ishikawa opening was cool, with Yone coming in like an aggressive Batt guy and popping Ishikawa, leading to Ishikawa doing a cool sweep to cause Yone to miss a punt and slip, with Ishikawa going in for the kill with a Fujiwara. But once we get into Ikeda/Junji stretch the match really opens up into something special. Ikeda dishes out one of those cruel beatings he's known for, instantly turning Junji into a huge fighting babyface. It's a sadistic old dude punishing a tough but weaker old dude, and it came off like Kurisu kicking Mitsuo Momota's ass. Junji is out here in his mawashi, trying to put both cheeks into everything, and Ikeda would just punch, kick and lariat him back to the mat. It was feeling like the same kind of Kantaro Hoshino performance we'd see in those 80s New Japan elimination tags, all clearly building to Ishikawa and Marufuji absolutely wasting the guys across the ring from them. Ikeda's beat down on Junji goes on long enough that it gets uncomfortable, like those old AJPW beatings of Kikuchi, but I loved how Ikeda sold for all of Junji's little comebacks, including a nice headbutt and an elbow that puts Ikeda down on his butt, holding his eye. Finally Junji makes the hot tag, leading to a crowd wildly on his side as Marufuji charges in and Hidaka, Ikeda, and Yone all trip over themselves to bump wildly for this molten lava tag.

I'm just kidding, Marufuji completely tanks any of the actual built up heat, stood idly by watching his teammate get his body and limbs kicked in, and actively decides to turn this into a more standard Anniversary show main event. He just somberly strolls in, then proceeds to chop Hidaka in the corner for the next 4 minutes. Yeah, yeah, Hidaka's chest is raw and bright red when it's over, but it was literally Hidaka with his arms hooked over the top rope and Marufuji just throwing chops, slowly. It felt like more of a gym hazing than anything that would make an actual match interesting, and lo! When it comes to actual sequences, Marufuji isn't very interesting in those either. Hidaka has this evergreen goodwill with me just from showing up as a then unknown (to me) in ECW over 20 years ago. I always like when he shows up in something I'm watching, even though I wished he had worked more Batt and less juniors wrestling here.

The Ikeda/Ishikawa sequence is worth the price of admission. If you weren't as captivated by the Junji performance as I was, you're still guaranteed to love Ishikawa sharp elbows and hooking punches to the curve of Ikeda's jaw, and of course Ikeda's straight fully body right hands to Ishikawa's ailing face. A low key best moment of the match happens right after Ikeda decks Ishikawa: the camera cuts to Yone, standing on the apron with a huge grin on his face. It did not seem like the kind of grin Ikeda's partner would be flashing, instead it looked like the grin of a big fan. In that moment you really got the sense that Yone wanted Ishikawa and Ikeda in this match because he's a tremendous fan of their specific thing, and wanted the best seat in the house to view that thing. I can't blame him, as their exchanges here were as good as any of the dozens of great Ikeda/Ishikawa exchanges we've seen for decades. What amazes me most about their pairing is that there is no "home base". There isn't a comfortable set of spots that they can hit every time, branching off from those spots depending on how long they each want to solo. This is a new song every time, played in the same key, but totally different arrangement. You're going to get punches to the face, but there are never any sequences that are repeated in the same way. The greatest pairings in wrestling history (Santo vs. Casas, Rey vs. Psicosis, Flair vs. Steamboat) all have spots and elements in common with their prior matches. Ikeda and Ishikawa just go out there and play free jazz with it, every time, and I've never seen them sound like they're using different different Fake Books. 

PAS: This is a hard match to rank, as there is nothing in any of the matches on our MOTY list as bad as that Marufuji hot tag, not only the endless comedy spot chops but then the interpretive dance step superkick misses with Hidaka. Just dreadful. But there are also few things on our list as sublime as another redux of the horrific dance between Ikeda and Ishikawa. As disgusting and gorgeous as it always is, the punches and headbutts landing with that hollow sound you really only get with these guys. Yone and Ishikawa had a killer opening section, Tanaka gets massacred by Ikeda in a very Ikeda way, but we also had a finish based around a Junji Tanaka comedy spot. I dunno, color me confused.  Ikeda vs. Ishikawa is the best wrestling gets, and I think the highs are higher then the lows are lower. 

2020 MOTY MASTER LIST

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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 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 

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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2019 Ongoing MOTY List: IKEDA and ISHIKAWA Rekindle Their Violent Romance

10. Daisuke Ikeda/Alexander Otsuka vs. Mohammed Yone/Yuki Ishikawa Ikeda 25th Anniversary Show 4/7

PAS: I am in a pretty great nostalgia K-Hole right now, I get to watch the Warriors go back to 2015 post KD injury, and I get to see my FUTEN and BattlArts friends take it back to 2010 and approximate a FUTEN tag. Ishikawa has shown up in 2019 and is making a strong Wrestler of the Year pitch, after basically being inactive for the last half a decade. The rest of the guys in this match have clearly slowed down a step or two, but Ishikawa looks like prime Yuki Ishikawa. We get great opening Ishikawa mat sections with both Ikeda and Otsuka, including Ishikawa doing an awesome gator roll. There was a long Ikeda vs. Yone section where the match dropped down a gear (although it did have an awesome spot where Otsuka deadlift Germans both guys, and some great Ikeda straight punches to Yone's head). The focus of the match was Ikeda vs. Ishikawa of course and I was so glad to see them run that all time legendary matchup back. The structure was pretty interesting with Ikeda initially working as a guy who had lost a step and couldn't hang, in the early sections he kept going to the eyes and breaking submissions by biting. When we got the final stanza though, he stands up and brings the heat you would expect from Daisuke Ikeda, including nearly beheading Ishikawa with a spin kick to the jaw. There is some great intense scrambling on the ground, but Ishikawa finishes Ikeda off with a nasty Octopus. So happy this happened, and so happy it showed up on the internet. Can't believe that they are still doing this to each other, but god bless those two lunatics.

ER: This had a different vibe for me than the past BattlArts/Futen throwback tags we've gotten, and while I don't think it ever ramped up to the gear of some of those absolute classics, but those classics also largely felt like the Ikeda/Ishikawa show (which is obviously the most durable of all BattlArts feuds) and an equal parts Otsuka/Yone show. Obviously all of the most classic Futen tags have
contributions from non Ikeda/Yuki guys like Ono and Oba, but this felt like the first throwback tag we've seen in a long time that had contributions from all original BattlArts guys, and I loved what Otsuka and Yone brought to the table. Otsuka is beefy as helllll now, but he's not just some sluggish tub, just makes his asskick more thicc. Dug his scramble with Yuki the most, but he's also great at the guy throwing stiff as hell flat feet right to the chest to knock someone back a few feet, or tossing out German suplexes on one - or both at once - of his opponents to save his boy (and Phil is right, those tandem German suplex trains can look silly but this one looked violent, like they all entered into a pact to wind up in more pain), and Otsuka got the awesome role of being the guy who marches in to break up Ikeda from trouble, in mean ways. Normally Ikeda seems to get that role, but Otsuka really runs with it. Otsuka also pulls off what might honestly be the fastest giant swing I've ever seen. He was whipping around and literal knee breaking speed, just a total marvel of strength. Yone got to show off his stiffness as well, which isn't something that always happens as he can definitely be more "pro style" than the others. He and Ishikawa have barely even crossed paths in 20 years, and Ikeda has mostly been his tag partner this decade. So it was awesome seeing him come in with really hard leg kicks, a couple awesome mule kicks to the face, and arguably the hardest thrown elbows of the match (and yes, I realize the three guys he was in with, Yone's elbows looked that good). Of course we end with the two legends, doing their dance, Yuki getting dropped with what should be an illegal brainbuster, Ikeda landing completely under the chin with a brutal spin kick (his best kick of the match, would have bought as a finish), and Yuki locking on the twisty octopus. *Obviously* this match was going to make our list, but these old dudes just keep justifying it.

2019 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Daisuke Ikeda Anniversary Show 4/7/19

PAS: Very excited to see this show up!! Ikeda and Ishikawa back on their bullshit again, plus lots of other fun dudes.

Funimori Abe vs. Junji Tanaka

PAS: Junji Tanaka is old school BattlArts dude Junji.com, and is dressed in a Sumo pad for some reason. This is a solid BattlArts/Futen opener, where guys hit each other a little harder than is really neccesary. Junji is in his late 40s and takes a bunch of really gnarly kicks to the head which he sells like an old man falling down a flight of stairs. Abe was fine in his role of a guy kicking an old man.

SAKI vs. Hikari Shimizu

PAS: This was a bad Joshi match, which really felt out of place on this card. When BattlArts had Joshi matches they would usually try to work the style, this was just a lot of bad dropkicks and hair whips. Shimizu seemed to hurt herself at one point so the ending felt abrupt. I did like SAKI's furry pink Brody boots though.

Keisuke Okada/SUGI vs. Hiroshi Yamato/Taro Nohashi

PAS: Match had some really fun moments without really ever coming together entirely. Okada and Yamato had a fun shoot scramble to start, and SUGI and Nohashi followed it up with a fun lucha exchange. The middle dragged a bit, but built to a fun finish with SUGI unloading all of his big highspots. Taro Nohashi seems like a guy I need to dig into more. He was awesome as a crowbar in his FUTEN matches, and here he splats Okada with some sick headbutts and bases really well for all of SUGI's spots. I wonder if their are hidden MPRO gems I need to dig up.

Ikuto Hidaka vs. Takafumi Ito

PAS: This was really great, basic arm versus leg match, but both guys were super tricky on the mat and found awesome ways to fly into attacks, counters into counters. I loved Hidaka's dragon screw whip with Ito tied into the corner, really looked like it shredded all the tendons in his knee. Ito really grabbed at the arm in nasty ways too, including a victory roll into an armbar. Built nicely from simple grappling into more complex fun stuff, had enough wacky stuff that I wouldn't call it pure shootstyle, but shootstyle adjacent wrestling is having a good year.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Tatsuo Nakano vs. Super Tiger/Tomohiko Hashimoto

PAS: Apparently Nakano is still semi-active, I hadn't seen him in years, he still brings the heat when needed, and I really enjoyed team UWF. Fujiwara is ageless, and still will deliver two or three cool things a match, even as he enters his 8th decade on this planet. I loved how he broke a Tiger submission hold by twisting his ankle at a really nasty angle, and the counter of Hashimoto's slap into a Fujiwara armbar was smooth as expected. I didn't think the Tiger and Hashimoto team brought enough to really make this a list match, although I liked Hashimoto's energy.

Brahman Brothers vs. Masayuki Tokumitsu/Rocky Kawamura

PAS: This was a Brahman Brothers match. They are very much a thing, lots of comedy spots of spitting water and grinding things into faces. It serves a purpose I suppose, but It isn't really my thing. As a former amateur boxer I do appreciate the form on Rocky Kawamura's body shots, but this was mostly forgettable. This was a show of everyone showing up and doing their stuff, some of that stuff I love, this is stuff I don't.

Daisuke Ikeda/Alexander Otsuka vs. Mohammed Yone/Yuki Ishikawa

PAS: I am in a pretty great nostalgia K-Hole right now, I get to watch the Warriors go back to 2015 post KD injury, and I get to see my FUTEN and BattlArts friends take it back to 2010 and approximate a FUTEN tag. Ishikawa has shown up in 2019 and is making a strong Wrestler of the Year pitch, after basically being inactive for the last half a decade. The rest of the guys in this match have clearly slowed down a step or two, but Ishikawa looks like prime Yuki Ishikawa. We get great opening Ishikawa mat sections with both Ikeda and Otsuka, including Ishikawa doing an awesome gator roll. There was a long Ikeda vs. Yone section where the match dropped down a gear (although it did have an awesome spot where Otsuka deadlift germans both guys, and some great Ikeda straight punches to Yone's head), The focus of the match was Ikeda vs. Ishikawa of course and I was so glad to see them run that all time legendary matchup back. The structure was pretty interesting with Ikeda initially working as a guy who had lost a step and couldn't hang, in the early sections he kept going to the eyes and breaking submissions by biting. When we got the final stanza though, he stands up and brings the heat you would expect from Daisuke Ikeda, including nearly beheading Ishikawa with a spin kick to the jaw. There is some great intense scrambling on the ground, but Ishikawa finishes Ikeda off with a nasty Octopus. So happy this happened, and so happy it showed up on the internet. Can't believe that they are still doing this to each other, but god bless those two lunatics.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE YOSHIAKI FUJIWARA

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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Low-KI Advent Calendar Night 10: 2006 NOAH Trios

Low-Ki/Mushiking Joker/SUWA vs. Mohammed Yone/Dakota/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi NOAH 3/5/06 - FUN

PAS: Pretty disposable NOAH trios match, with a moment or two, but some really bad stuff. Dakota (who I assume is one of the Harley Race trainees who would get NOAH runs, he was more Bull Schmidt then Trevor Murdoch) and Mushking Joker are both pretty bad here and Kikuchi was really washed. SUWA is always worth watching and he hit his great John Woo dropkick, Ki had a fun finish run too, with a great looking wheel kick and Ki Krusher. Good doesn't outweigh the bad, but there is some good for sure.

ER: Really feels like I watched a different match than Phil. Dakota was not a guy I remembered at all (even though this was a pretty major NOAH show from an era when this was my favorite fed) and he's green but also spends much of the match eating a beating from SUWA and Low-Ki, two guys you wouldn't want to eat a beating from. He also wrestles barefoot and I give extra crazy points for guys who do that. He hits a great plancha early on Marvin, pops the crowd with a crossbody off the top coupled with a YEEHAW, and is fun as the guy clearly eating the pin. The heel team is a real fun combination that teamed a few times, three real favorites of mine with SUWA da GOD, Ki, and Ricky. They're really complementary as workers while being different as workers. Marvin had a couple great bumps here, an awesome bottom rope springboard low dropkick, took a fast bump to the floor early to eat a Dakota plancha, big flip bump on a lariat; SUWA was at his best here, targeting Dakota's bare feet the moment he tags in and stomping all over them, stomping over his ankles too, big fistdrop, nice elbowdrop and a slingshot elbowdrop, really made Dakota duck clotheslines and a backfist while running ropes, just doing every single thing that makes SUWA an all time favorite of mine. Shoot, SUWA even kicked at a cameraman on the floor while walking to the ring. He's exactly what I want a pro wrestler to be. Kikuchi is a step slower here but a fun SUWA foil, hitting his calf kicks and dropping a nice snap suplex/fisherman's suplex combo and stays out of the way for the rest. Yone is a guy who I have watched a ton yet often forget how much I enjoy. My brains always thinks of Ikeda as the former Batt guy in NOAH, but there's Yone the whole time, and man Yone is STILL IN NOAH. He throws a few awesome running big boots to the face and chin (loved Marvin leaning right into that kick) and he drops his big damn heavy legdrop. Ki was doing a fun elbow-based offense that he's mostly dropped, flying into people a few times with standing elbow drops, and the group's concentrated effort on getting Dakota away from the pack for the finish is a great run off chain offense. The big SUWA atomic drop and running dropkick (thought Dakota's dazed sell in the corner after the dropkick was fun) looked great, and Ki hits a big cartwheel kick and sticks him with the Ki Krusher. The thought that this trios has more bad than good really doesn't make sense to me as the only sketchy moment I saw was Dakota leaning away from a Ki springboard kick too early. There might be some miscommunication between Dakota and SUWA but I can't tell what it is as SUWA did something different than planned and it worked fine. I thought Dakota overall added to the match and was a fun Mandela Effect guy (rodeo cowboy junior working NOAH in the mid 2000s is something I clearly saw all of yet I would have called you a liar about before watching this), and everybody else wrestled as well as you would expect those names to wrestle. Who was taking the pin was never in doubt, but we got a long fun heat section on him and some awesome hits from the others.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE LOW-KI

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To Daisuke Ikeda Life is a Rivalry Keep a Step Ahead of Me.

Daisuke Ikeda/Takeshi Ono vs. Satoshi Yoneyama/Alexander Otsuka Inoki Festival 12/1/96 - EPIC

Your BattlArts boys show up on a supercard and show it how its done. Yoneyama is a pre-NOI conversion Mohammed Yone and is pretty great here, he takes a nasty beating, pastes Ikeda in the face with a koppo kick and drops him with nasty german. The Ikeda/Ono tag team maybe my all time favorite tag team (they would certainly be the team I would be most excited to see live, or have a hidden gem show up for), and they are killing it here. Both guys throw some of the nastiest cheap shots ever, every time Otsuka or Yoneyama put on a half crab, Ikeda and Ono are coming it to whip kick them in the temple. Anytime either of them ended up in the corner, Ono would be running over to liver punch them. They also absorbed some gross suplexes, Ikeda ate a capture suplex on his forehead like Necro took Samoa Joe's powerslam. Finish was pretty great with Yoneyama taking a jaw dislocating kick to the face, only to get up at 9, big mistake as Ikeda strafes him three more times for the KO, stay down kid, it isn't worth it.



COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DAISUKE IKEDA

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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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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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Wrestling I've Enjoyed Recently (9 Months Ago Edition)

Whenever I talk with Phil I always feel like the most out-of-the-loop wrestling fan around. I love watching wrestling on DVD. DVDs have revolutionized tape trading. You used to buy a tape for $10-15, and now I can find people selling DVDs for $2 a pop. I can afford to keep up with every single promotion in the world at that rate. BUT, I don't love watching wrestling on a computer. I will watch if it is the ONLY way I will ever see a match (the amazing VIP lucha tag from a couple years ago, the Navarro/Terry match, etc.), but otherwise I'll just wait for the DVD.

PHIL, however, is the master of watching wrestling on a computer. He watches matches matches that have disappeared forever by the time he tells me about them the next day. "Oh man, it was fucking amazing." "Where can I see it!?" "Oh, it got taken down 7 minutes after I watched it. I doubt it'll ever be uploaded again." If we're talking music terms, then Phil is getting his hands on all the cool new 7"s from hip indie labels like Hozac or Captured Tracks or Woodsist before they go for ebay money, while I'm still listening to my Deep Blue Something cassingle on my Walkman.

So, yeah, I watch wrestling way late, on DVD, like a loser. Here are some matches I watched recently that I really enjoyed, that took place 9 months ago.

1. Bronco/Romano Garcia vs. Danny Boy/Flecha (El Toreo, 12/3/08)

Going into this I didn't know Bronco, loved Garcia but didn't realize he was still even making tape (Mr. Condor/Diabolicos, along with Apache and Pimpi, were one of the only bright spots on early 2000s Galavision AAA TV), didn't know Danny Boy, and knew Flecha was Skayde. Didn't have tons of hope for it but I love old guy lucha so figured it would be OK.

It was awesome. Romando Garcia is a total monster here. He's a little greyer up top, but he's as sneaky and bastard-y as ever. He just makes Danny Boy (who has the appearance of an older, hispanic Joey Maggs) his target the whole match and is just ruthless. Just kicking him in the balls, beating him with nasty chairshots, and in one of the greatest things I've ever seen in wrestling, Garcia grabs an empty beer bottle from a ringside vendor, breaks it on the ring post, and goes after poor Danny Boy with it!! Garcia is a marvel here, one of the ultimate heel performances I've ever witnessed.

Danny Boy bleeds like a champ and plays a really great sympathetic technico. Really interested in all their other meetings this year (two of which I have on my old fashioned Digital Video Diskz), so look forward to watching those some time in 2011.

2. Sami Callihan vs. Trik Davis (IWA-MS, 12/5/08)

These guys matched up a couple times in '08, but THIS was the singles match to watch from them. This is one of my favorite indie workrate singles I've ever seen. Trik Davis is so great here it really makes me think I should've had Trik over Sami, and Sami just got more showcase matches against cool opponents (Trik didn't get the Scorpio or Ian singles matches). Trik makes Sami's offense look better than I've ever seen it look before. Trik just leans into EVERYthing and both guys really deserve some kind of weirdo standing ovation for giving and taking such nasty beatings in front of like 35 people. The way Trik takes Sami's finisher on the floor is just totally painful, and it was on a side of the ring that had like 6 people sitting on it. Sami doesn't really know how to play to the crowd very well and project, he just kinda does his Billy Idol sneer and that's it. Trik is getting really good with his facials and plays to the crowd well and it really ties the match up. This is a great match, well worth going out of your way to see. PLUS, Fannin points out that Trik came out to the Fall Guy theme song , which may be appropriate. Trik still doesn't get much credit as a great worker, just because he looks like Big Pete Wrigley. So even though he might fall from a tall building, or roll a brand new car, he's still the unknown stunt man, that in this match made Sami Callihan such a star (I still have my Fall Guy lunch box up on my living room shelf).

3. Grits N Gravy vs. Ian Rotten/Mickie Knuckles (IWA-MS, 12/6/08)

This was part of the IWA-MS Candido Cup tag tourney. Grits N Gravy is Sami Callihan and Michael Elgin. You're all familiar with Ian, Mickie, and Callihan, and Elgin is a big doughy squishy dude squeezed uncomfortably into a singlet, who hits REALLY hard.

Ian is the standout here, and he's just awesome. He looks like my old elementary school classmate Nathan Hoffman, who would kinda do anything just to get attention (and had a baby blue Member's Only jacket with a spot on the left breast pocket so you can put I.D., so Nathan sloppily wrote "Nathan" on a piece of torn lined paper and put it in there). I usually don't get too excited for bullshit in wrestling. I have to be in the right mood for it. But Ian's bullshit? I could watch that all day. The dude is always on and people could gain a lot by watching his tag work. The dude is just always on. His apron work here is fantastic, his stuff on the mat is cool, there's a great spot on the floor where he dishes out some classic "Smothers-Fu" to Elgin, and when Sami wanders over to save Ian delivers a mule kick to the balls. Just watching the guy waddle around and somehow be awesome is such a treat.

Mickie Knuckles genuinely scares me. I like watching her wrestle, and like seeing her come in and headbutt her brain cells away, but she scares me. She really has a kind of reckless way about her -- not in a sloppy way, but in a I-don't-care-if-I-die way -- that makes her really intriguing.

Real fun tag match with four people who hit hard and get hit hard.

4. Takeshi Rikio/Naomichi Marufuji/Mohammed Yone vs. Yoshihiro Takayama/Takuma Sano/Ricky Marvin (NOAH, 12/7/08)

I am such a sucker for NOAH six mans. Throw six guys with seemingly little connection to each other, one side acts like heels, the other acts like faces, somehow all six guys end up looking awesome. I have no idea how this happens. Marufuji consistently looked like the worst guy in everything he was in the last two years, and he was great here! And remember when Ricky Marvin was the best wrestler in the world!? Well he looked like those days were upon us NOW. All his stuff looked good and he did a rope-walk dropkick that I had to rewind a few times. Yone is really big now and he has his fro back. The only guys larger than him in the match were Rikio and Takayama, and man he packs a wallop. This had all the shit you know and love about NOAH. Dudes getting thrown into guardrails a bunch, dudes setting up spots where they run all the way across the building to clothesline a guy, stiff strikes, hott stand-offs, everybody wins. I love NOAH six mans.

5. Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima (NOAH, 12/7/08)

This was the first time I enjoyed a singles match with Nakajima. I've enjoyed a good amount of tags where he's in with heavyweights that just beat him up and all he has to do is get beaten up and throw some big kicks. But this was a good Nakajima singles match. Misawa is fat, grumpy, and in no mood to get kicked by some punk. Misawa's elbows are truly insane. They're like an Anderson Silva back-peddling jab: He doesn't look like he's throwing them that hard, but when they connect, they just might dislocate your jaw. Misawa hits all sorts of elbow combos and Nakajima reddens his chest, and the match ends when it should end.

6. Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Kotaro Suzuki vs. KENTA/Taiji Ishimori (NOAH, 12/7/08)

There are gonna be a hundred of these matches this year that I can't stand, filled with wasted big moves and dudes popping up doing the jacking two dudes off fighting spirit fist pumps. But I dug this one. KENTA plays a great face-in-peril and Kanemaru/Suzuki are really good at cutting off the ring. The first 10-15 are classic southern tag, and by the time we get to the big spots they're all really fun and well strung together, making good use of saves to avoid too many pointless kickouts. This was real fun and I seriously doubt I'm going to enjoy a juniors tag this year as much as this one...but like a sucker I'll still watch them.

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Phil's Ongoing 2007 MOTY LIST

1. John Cena v. Umaga WWE 1/28
2. Solar 1/Mano Negra v. Negro Navarro/Black Terry Lucha Libre VIP 3/10
3. MNM v. Hardy Boyz WWE 1/28
4. Briscoes v. Ricky Marvin/Kontaro Suzuki NOAH 1/21
5. Takeshi Sasaki v. Yuki Miyamoto BJW 3/14
6. John Cena v. Shawn Michaels WWE 4/1
7. Shinjiro Ohtani/Takao Omori/Kazunari Murakami v. Kohei Sato/Hirotaka Yokoi/Yoshiro Takayama Zero 1 1/19
8. Yuji Nagata v. Hiroshi Tanahashi NJ 4/13
9. Undertaker v. Batista WWE 4/1
10. BJ Whitmer v. Jimmy Jacobs ROH 1/27
11 Takeshi Morishima/Mohammed Yone v. Jun Akiyama/Takeshi Rikio NOAH 4/1
12. Necro Butcher v. Toby Klien CZW 1/13
13. Chris Benoit v. Chavo Guerrero WWE 1/16

8. Yuji Nagata v. Hiroshi Tanahashi NJ 4/13

This is a match where coming in I didn't like either guy. I am not sure going out I like either guy much more, but this was a pretty good match nonetheless. I really liked all of the legwork, the dragon screw over the top rope to the floor is a very cool looking big move, and I dug all of the different dragon screw variations Tanahashi had. Nagata also did a good job of selling here, and he kept a lid on the over the top facial expressions which always take me out of Nagata matches. Still outside of the legwork Tanahashi has some of the shittiest looking offense in wrestling. There is a point where he does a very cool legsweep counter to a Nagata high kick, and follows it up with an elbowdrop and senton combination that was so dainty it would make 2002 M Dogg 20 scoff. His big run of suplexes at the end of the match looked Momoe Nakanishi level bad, and I have no idea what the fuck the Slingblade is supposed to be. So this match was really hurt by the dramatic nearfalls all coming off such crappy looking stuff. Still Nagata looked as good as I have seen him in years and it was a dramatic exciting main event match.

11. Takeshi Morishima/Mohammed Yone v. Jun Akiyama/Takeshi Rikio

This didn't have the deep story that your real high end NOAH tags have, but for big guys pounding on each other it was pretty class. They really did a lot of matching up, with Yone and Akiyama really pairing off, and the double Takeshis really going after each other. I always enjoy fat guys slapping each other and these were a pair of fat guys throwing slaps. Yone and Akiyama came off their awesome 4 minute match on the last big NOAH show by going after each other here. There were a couple of off parts, the big running spot in the crowd took to long to set up and didn't come off good, and there was a section where Rikio and Yone were brawling on the floor where both guys looked completely lost. Your big run was pretty great with the highlight being Rikio countering the doomsday device spinkick by crushing Morishima with a short arm lariat.

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PRO WRESTLING FUJIWARA-GUMI Show #29, 11/19/95

Takeshi Ono v. Mohamed Yone

TKG: I'm assuming that Ono's opponent is Yone. The Lynch list for this show is full of question marks. Yone is tall and not a ton thicker than Ono. I mean everyone is thicker than Ono but Yone is still skinny. Yone gets in one absolutely nasty kick but this is mostly the Ono kick and scramble all over opponent to get submission show. Thats a show I tend to enjoy.

PAS: Yone did have a great missed koppo kick after the one nasty landed kick. Middle of last year I saw Super middleweight contender Alan Green fight an ex-sparring partner Donny McCrary in a ESPN2 card. Green outclassed the guy, but his opponent nearly KO'ed him with a lucky punch, had him on dream street. McCrary couldn't settle down and finish Green though, he was just hurling wild punches, that is what that koppo kick kind of felt like. An outclassed guy got a lucky shot and was recklessly going for broke

Alexander Otsuka vs. Takeshi Okano?

TKG: Again assuming here that Otsuka's opponent is the future Winger. Otsuka pretty much controls this match. Some nice suplexes, nothing as spectacular as the most spectacular Otsuka suplex, but still a bunch of nice throws. Winger gets in the flash victory by reversing a leg lock into an ankle pick.

PAS: This was fun. Possible future Winger was pretty non descript, but wasn't afraid to land bad on his skull. The flash victory ankle pick was pretty awesome, as Okano was about to tap, but was able to grab the ankle and nearly rip it off.

Katsumi Usuda v. Oishi

PAS: The name had a question mark next to it, so his full name will be lost for posterity. It is pretty common when they run different style matches in Japan for the big name outsider to bring in a underling to work an undercard match. I assume Oishi is a Murakami student, but the funny thing is that he is a brown belt. Murakami couldn't even bring another black belt to work the undercard?

TKG: This went a little over a minute and really nothing to see here.

Yuki Ishikawa v. TAKA Michinoku

PAS: This was joined in progress which I was pretty salty about. At different points of my life each of these guys have been my favorite wrestler in the world, and I am pretty sure I hadn't seen them wrestle each other before. We got most of it though, and it was pretty great. Really counters on top of counters, as TAKA would use his speed to avoid and check most of the things Ishikawa was trying, but when it got onto the mat, he would be countered by Ishikawa's skill. Both guys were throwing bombs too, especially TAKA's nasty elbows to the back of the head. Wish I could have seen it all, but it didn't disappoint.

TKG: Ishikawa's submission attempts were really awesome here as he'd go through all these stages in order to reach a submission. First he'd isolate the body part, then he'd fight to completely extend it, and only then would he go and try to twist it into unnatural positions. On the one hand it was awesome, on the other it was disorienting as he'd go through this whole process to secure a submission when TAKA would just go and slap one on. Fun match, wish I had seen more.

Gladiator/Hisakatsu Oya v Daisuke Ikeda/Mark Ashford

TKG: So it's PWFG v. FMW and pretty much a mess. Mark Starr has a nice superkick and decided to work straight pro style. So you never really had the "fish out of water/PWFG guy out of element" feel to his sections. And well Ikeda is a brawler to begin with so not really a story of contrasts. Oya looks awkward at points, like he had never taken a DDT before. The bulk of the match is spent with Ikeda and Oya brawling in the chairs while Gladiator and Mark Starr worked in ring. Really felt like you should have Starr and Gladiator brawl outside ring and have Ikeda and Oya do the fighting in ring. Just felt backwards. Match was a mess.

PAS: This was mercifully clipped, as we got about 8 minutes of 22. Pretty shitty with no one being any good at all. Luckly Gladiator did neither a suicide dive or a hanging vertical suplex, so we weren't tempted to make any tasteless jokes.

Murakami v. Yoshiaki Fujiwara

PAS: Murakami is a Karate guy who mauled Usuda on an earlier show to set this up. This is joined in progress too, which sucks, because one of the things that makes these kind of matches great is the slow build to blow up, and this was joined mid blow up. There is a DQ finish with Fujiwara jumping Murakami at the start of the round and getting a mount and raining down punches which is apparently illegal in this style. They have kind of a fun pull apart between dojo's, but this match felt like a missed opportunity.

TKG: Yeah I was stoked at the potential for this match up and really you fuck it up by having it jip'd. Post pull apart Fujiwara throws his own students out of ring so he can be a man and shake his opponents hand while still pissed at himself for fucking up. He's bitter but he needs to shake and then raise his opponents arm to be true to himself and the sport. ROH! ROH!

Great Sasuke v. Shoichi Funaki

PAS: This was a Sasuke singles match with all that entails. Sasuke was fine, he did his pair of insane dives, and his offense was good. Sasuke wrestles kind of the same always, so the quality of the match will usually depend on what the opponent brings to the table. Funaki did very little to add to the match, so in the pantheon of Sasuke singles matches this finishes pretty low.

TKG: I expected Funaki to rep PWFG but he kind of comes out and hits a dive in his first move. Sasuke controls most of the match on the mat and then has the better dives of the two. Fuanki has some fine mat work and some mediocre dives but Sasuke just has far more interesting stuff no matter what he's doing and well I never bought Funaki as a challenger and had no reason to care about the match.

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