New Footage Friday: IKEDA~! ISHIKAWA~! KANEHARA~! ITO~! REY~! RED~! SANTO~! ULTIMO~!

Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Red HOG 8/21/15

MD: Given where Rey's knees were in 2015, this was pretty high end stuff. They had nice early exchanges building to some tit-for-tat mirrored work, including both guys teasing the code red and 619. Red, early on, took a great bump through the ropes but then felt the need to bump himself again after the landing, which was a little silly. What really made the match work was how, once it got going, Rey ended up working from underneath with Red using the fact he at least matched Rey's size to play cruiserweight bully. Rey would get well-layered hope spots, but Red was there each time to cut him off in clever and interesting ways. On the other hand, Red would lean into the hometown crowd a little too much or play up his Eddy tributes instead of going for victory, and give Rey another shot at that hope. There was escalation with Rey at least able to try and then finally get more offense, but Red was pretty firmly in control right up until the point where he went for the three amigos and Rey was able to sneak out a victory. Red taking so much of the match protected him (not like he really needed it) and also let Rey do what he could do best in 2015, get sympathy and help someone else shine.

ER: I really enjoyed this, had a lot of fun seeing two of my favorites, and also didn't love the match structure very much. It's tough to do a baby vs. baby match and I'm not quite sure what structure would have pleased me the most, but this one did not. That's not very helpful. I love what they did but not how they did it? Who exactly is that helping? There was some neutralizing stuff to start, and it makes sense that we would get some mirror exchanges as Red's greatest matches were mirroring the kind of things that Rey made possible. I love how Red bumped for Rey. I actually liked the extra bump into the rail that Red took (that Matt not-unfairly called "silly"), as I thought it looked great, like he recoiled off the landing and flew head first into the railing. But mainly I loved that it established Rey as the goodest good guy, as he went to the floor to actually check on Red and make sure he could continue. I would have loved to see Red go full heel on Rey, or Rey go full heel on Red (and disappoint all of those kids so excited to see Rey) but Rey being established as the evergreen babyface was handled in a smart way. 

I did think they leaned too heavy on Rey getting cut off, as literally any time he went for any move down the last 10 minutes Red was right there to stop him. My least favorite match layout is "one guy takes all the offense but then immediately wins the match with two moves" and this felt like an extended - but more interesting - version of that tired Randy Savage Nitro match formula. The best parts were seeing how the two legends took each other's offense, and seeing how much Rey inspired Red's early career, and how much Red inspired Rey's late career. Both are underrated bases because they are both small enough that they don't play that role, so there was a lot of joy in seeing them take ranas and headscissors, seeing Rey try a code red ON Red, seeing Red flatten Rey with that pancake powerbomb out of the Santo roll. A match filled with joy, that also somewhat underwhelmed. That said, fans of either will find plenty here to love. 

PAS: I am somewhere in the middle of Eric and Matt here. I thought all of the countering made a ton of sense, considering Rey was such an inspiration to Red. Red is going to know all of Rey's stuff, and Red's stuff is Rey's stuff so he is going to be on the lookout as well. I was also into the big Red bump into the guardrail, fun violent stuff, and it made perfect sense that Red might have been discombobulated.  I didn't love how heavy the Eddie tributes were in the finish, both guys in the match have such rich histories, and this was such a dream match, that you didn't need to shoehorn Eddie in too. Still this was really fun to finally see, and with the Ki match and this Red match Rey had a very cool mini-run against the 2000s indy greats in 2015.

57. Daisuke Ikeda/Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Yuki Ishikawa/Takafumi Ito GPS 9/26/18 - GREAT

PAS: THE BOYS!! I remember trying to reach out to GPS on Facebook asking them to upload this match three years ago when it happened, and it just shows up! This was worked BattlArts style, and while it didn't hit the absolute heights of the best of that style, even good BattlArts is awesome. I really liked Kanehara here. He is a UWFI guy and looked really good on the mat and threw hard kicks, and I loved how fast he threw his axe kick and how deadly that was sold. Ito looked good on the mat too, and went at Ikeda only to pay for it. We don't really get the extended Ikeda vs. Ishikawa section you really want, and they do square off a couple of times and Ikeda really bounces his fist off of Ishikawa's head, but it felt backgrounded a bit when you really want it foregrounded. Still every part of this was really well worked and any chance you get to watch these guys be these guys, you want to jump on it. 

MD: A satisfying watch even if it never entirely boiled over. I wasn't sure we were going to get much Ikeda vs Ishikawa at all, so it was good to see them scrap towards the end. The good thing here was that the other matchups were all interesting. I agree with Phil that Kanehara showed a lot. His kicks were dangerous, with the axe kick built up early so that when he hit it on Ishikawa later, you believed that it'd get his team solid advantage for a time. He also had a nice, dominant mat exchange with Ito though. Otherwise, the most memorable bits were Ikeda just crushing Ito in the corner and Ishikawa's amazing catch and duck under switch of Kanehara's leg. There were a couple of funny moments for balance and that expected familiarity between Ikeda and Ishikawa that just bleeds through whenever they're in the ring together. It ended up feeling very complete even if it never quite went over the top.

ER: Glad that GPS finally got around to checking their Facebook Messenger three years later to fulfill Phil's request. The match is a really fun violent take on an All Japan Legends match, with them getting a mixture of laughs and awe with old bits and old violence. Kanehara and Ito work nasty leg locks and Kanehara throws the kind of kicks that made 90s UWFI so fun. Ikeda is a real bully to Ito, so while he's weathering an ankle lock he's always ending things by punching or elbowing or kicking Ito in painful ways. But there's that All Japan old guys match element that makes this a different kind of violent BattlArts, so we also get great weirdo moments like Ikeda whiffing on a 619 attempt and landing on his head. That felt like the first time Ikeda has ever come off like Rusher Kimura, and it made me realize how great the potential might be for old man Ikeda/Ishikawa comedy matches. I've spent so many years wondering how those two were going to keep up their level of violence into their even older age, that I've never thought about how good they might be at adding more comedy as the violence becomes less sustainable. Ishikawa is a fun foil during their exchanges, teasing him with Inoki legsweeps and taking Ikeda's headbutts the way an old man accepts a refreshing glass of homemade lemonade from his wife of 43 years. They each take some shots, but it's Ikeda's work opposite Ito that most stood out for me. Ito knew his fate but it never slowed his attempts to tap him. Ikeda always looks like he's having a blast when he maneuvers another man into a crossface, and that's just the joy of old man shootstyle. 

Ultimo Dragon vs. El Hijo Del Santo PWR 10/5/19

PAS: This was basically a maestro exhibition and a fun version of one. Dragon is definitely slower but still solid on the mat, and even breaks out a Navarro family spinning figure four. He also takes a big top rope armdrag, which was a big bump for some oldsters. Santo appears to move no differently than he did 30 years ago, and it is always a pleasure to watch him break out old hits like the head spin headscissors and la Caballo. Unnecessary BS run in finish mars this a bit, but I imagine the audience came away feeling their money was well spent. 

MD: Pretty minimalist affair but we like those. There was one big spot in this thing and they milked it for everything it was worth. They milked everything, actually. Dragon waggled his finger in the air for fifteen seconds before trying to get a pin towards the finish. Santo can get away with that. He ate up Dragon on the mat for the first five minutes but everything was smooth. When Dragon came back with some kicks, his reverse figure four looked nice (though well-milked and barely sold). Crowd was clearly behind Santo and that let Dragon play the aggressor a bit more. The big spot was an arm drag off the top after a teased superplex and it was fine even if it took Santo forever to get up the gumption to charge up there and toss him off. No one in the crowd cared though. They were all just happy to be there and see these two (or at least see Santo).

ER: This match happened two hours away from me, on the total opposite side of the Bay Area, promoted by Pro Wrestling Revolution. They're the far and away consistently highest drawing indy in the Bay Area, and nearly every time I have been coaxed and lured into attending one of their shows over the years I have experienced one of the most unsatisfying in-ring products of my fandom. I hate Pro Wrestling Revolution, the only local lucha fed, who only insist on promoting to excess the worst parts of lucha libre. The entire promotion gravitates entirely around heel referee Sparky Ballard (here, El Sparko), an entire promotion focused entirely about preserving the tradition of a referee getting in the way any time any match begins to gain momentum. I've never seen a PWR match end without bullshit, and it's always the most unnecessary bullshit you can think up. It's an authentic lucha fed who flies in authentic lucha talent and then books lucha like someone who has the worst taste in lucha. 

But they booked El Hijo del Santo in his first singles match in over two years so I was going to drive 4+ total hours to see how Pro Wrestling Revolution could fuck up such a joyous occasion. Me and my pal Tim Livingston took an entire Saturday to see Santo, one of us being smart enough to buy a ticket in advance, the other of us deciding to buy his at the door. And when the only tickets left at the door cost $50, one of us decided to spend the entire first half of the show walking around the exterior of a large San Jose high school looking for a way to sneak into the show, before resolving himself to just wait until intermission and walk right into the building as everyone else flooded out. So I missed half the show, of a promotion who has never put on an enjoyable undercard. I found Tim, forced to endure the heel referee Revolution alone due to my ticket buying procrastination, and together we endured more heel referee lucha while waiting for Santo. Cain Velasquez was there with his family. 

The match was minimalist but enough to keep a smile on me (until the bullshit). It's a good Santo performance for a crowd who was hot to see him, but also the weakest Santo performance of any that have made tape over the past 5 years. He is still quick, especially for a man in his mid-50s, but at some points your handsprings don't land you on your ankles and you instead land on your butt and stand up. The matwork has moments but doesn't attempt to go anywhere with the moments, instead giving you some nice snapshots of moments. I like when Santo does little things like kick Dragon in the knee before picking a single leg. Dragon has some things that look good, decent back elbows and a willingness to lean into a great Santo in-ring tope, but Dragon can also take an eternity in between movement. I loved the top rope armdrag and will count myself incredibly lucky if I'm able to breezily hop to the middle rope and twist my body like Santo when I am 56. JR Kratos throws some of the most embarrassingly soft strikes on his run in, punching and stomping at him like he was made of porcelain, making an already preposterous run-in even more unsatisfying. Cheap Heat is the name of Pro Wrestling Revolution's game, and they do it as obnoxiously as possible. If they ever successfully bring in Negro Casas (two prior attempts were thwarted by a natural disaster and a broken rib courtesy of Sam Adonis) then they will trick this old foolish clown once again into enduring their dull brand of lucha. 

2018 MOTY MASTER LIST

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DAISUKE IKEDA

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2019 Ongoing MOTY List: Hidaka vs. Ito

26. Ikuto Hidaka vs. Takafumi Ito Ikeda 25th Anniversary Show 4/7

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.

ER: This was a fun Batt style match with flat out bizarre commentary. For all I know the two guys weren't even talking about Hidaka or Ito, as they spent literally the entire match laughing their heads off like they were recreating a conversation between Knox Harrington and Maude Lebowski. Ito would be ripping at Hidaka's arm and they would be giggling away. Weird. Ito isn't a guy I've seen a lot, and for an older guy he really hasn't shown up on tape a lot. But I dug him opposite Hidaka, liked the arm vs. leg angle, and loved how it built to a hot finishing stretch that broke away from the grappling. Ito had some nifty counters to established Hidaka offense, done in a way that it wasn't a dancey counter to a counter to a counter; instead we get Hidaka's cool cradle roll up countered into a sick armbar, or Hidaka doing his unique skin the cat only to be met with a hard knee to the gut on his way back in the ring. Hidaka looks and moves the exact same as he did 20 years ago, really dug his attacks on Ito's leg (though I wish both guys had sold their respective arm and leg). The finish stretch had some great throws, a tight and violent Exploder from Ito, a big back suplex from Hidaka and a sick German from Ito (with Hidaka getting his foot gently on the top rope in a nice visual), and that missile dropkick to Ito's knee is such an insane spot. All of this was apparently hilarious, based on our weird commentary crew recorded inside a garbage can.


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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