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