Takeshi Ono Documentation Project #12

 

Takeshi Ono vs. Alexander Otsuka, BattlARTS 1/13/1996 - EPIC

This is from the BattlARTS debut show and you can tell they went out there and went hart to get the crowd hooked on their product. Really great straight shootstyle match. Ono is slick on the mat and can land some big strikes, but he is so light Otsuka damn well will use him as a grappling dummy. Anytime Otsuka goes for a takedown or suplex attempt Ono has to stuff him or scramble for the ropes. The early grappling is so slick and technical, the kind of intricate shootstyle matwork that became a bit lighter as BattlARTS became a touring promotion, and it‘s great to watch. It builds to a more tricked out and epic second half than you‘d expect from an 8 minute undercard match, as Ono actually gets the first suplex dropping Otsuka on his head. From then on it‘s Ono wasting Otsuka with nasty kicks and knees and Otsuka desperately trying to get his throws in. Ono is so great here scrambling for chokes and trying to pop Otsukas legs with heel hooks, and when Otsuka gets to his bread and butter, he just tosses the shit out of Ono. Tremendous last couple minutes.

 

Takeshi Ono & Daisuke Ikeda vs. Alexander Otsuka & Tiger Mask IV, BattlARTS 10/18/1997 – FUN

Opening of this match wasn‘t quite as violent as you are used to from Team Taco, I‘m not super into TMIV shoehorning his pro style spots into a BattlARTS main event, although you had some fun rudo work from Ikeda and Ono. Lots of nasty thudding kicks, and Ono trying to unmask the Tiger before sinking in a choke was a pristine BattlARTS hybrid wrestling moment. It picked up when Otsuka started picking apart Ikedas leg which built to a nasty comeback where Ikeda tried cracking Otsukas jaw with a lariat before we get the Ono vs. Otsuka finishing run. It was a strong finishing run that had several neat moments such as Ono trying to take Otsukas head off with a flying knee and then hitting a nifty sliding leg kick, and of course Otsuka ragdolling Ono hard with suplexes. Still I was kinda hoping for a grandstand Ono/TMIV exchange since Ono had kept trying to unmask TMIV indicating some heat between the two, although what we got was high quality.

Takeshi Ono vs. Katsumi Usuda (8/18/2001) - FUN

Only a 3 minute clip of an 8 minute match was shown, but what was shown looked predictably great. These guys had gotten really great with their transitions at this point, just one slick move after another, that plus BattlARTS level stiffness. Travesty we have so little of this stuff.

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