Unseen Yuki Ishikawa

 

Yuki Ishikawa & Hornet vs Fuminori Abe & Kenji Takeshima, Battle Arts Canada  2/20/2016

A few years ago somebody made a documentary on Yuki Ishikawa and BattlARTS. It included a few matches including 2 from Ishikawas stint in Canada which I haven’t seen online before. This was just 1 year into Abes career and he and Takeshima are introduced as the POTATOE BROTHERS, which may be a one-time joke or the name of their actual team in Sportiva (yeah, Abe is another Sportiva guy!!). I like that most Japanese wrestlers coming to foreign lands will tweak their act a little, maybe slow it town, be paltable for Western audiences, but not Yuki. Yuki doesn’t give a fuck, he’s there to kick ass and do BattlARTS style matches. This was punishment style alright, just 4 guys smacking and stretching each other. No punches pulled, I think Takeshima gave Ishikawa a headbutt like 2 minutes into this and started bleeding. It wasn’t even a showy hard hitting match like you sometimes see on the US indies, where guys will hit each other hard in really showy ways, waiting for the other guy to come over, doing a sneering face, letting yourself get hit and selling it for the back row, this was guys cheapshotting each other in nasty ways and scrambling on the mat. I liked Abe and Takeshima a lot here, Abe all spunky and smacking people in the face, Takeshima hitting gnarly headbutts. Ishikawa was Ishikawa, he did a lot of falling elbows and knee drops which I dug, at one point he was dropping elbows and knees on Takeshimas head as if Greg Valentine had absorbed Khabib. Hornet is a guy who comes in with this really tassely neon outfit but he is really game to roll with this, he was pretty good at scrambling on the mat, locking peoples legs up in cool ways, and trading hits. At one point he hit a fist drop and then started working an armlock which is totally cool with me, because it was a decent fist drop and that’s something junji.com would do. It’s really fun to see a Western audience react to this stuff, like they don’t react to this unstructured brawl in the same way they would to a face vs. heel match or a spotfest or whatever, but they clearly react and all these guys got over. People are clearly way into Yuki Ishikawa, they are into Hornet, they are into Abe and Takeshima as a pair of goofy pricks, they are clearly in shock whenever someone would land a particularily gruesome smack, and even with the complete absence of high spots (I think the biggest move was a double suplex) they enjoyed the match. And this was just a bunch of guys hitting each other and scrambling on the mat and trying to twist each others legs off. This was just a really good time.

Yuki Ishikawa & D-Man Parker vs Freedom Wallace & Bradford Montague, Battle Arts Canada 10/7/2016

It’s Ishikawa working a parking lot indy show, baby. This is Ishikawas “Hashimoto stiffing Dylan Night in Pennsylvania” or “Negro Navarro stretching Quackenbush in a bar in delaware” moment, he is just there to kick ass and punish these guys. Like seriously anytime someone was down he would punch them in the kidney, kneedrop their head/throat, stomp them, punch them in the head some more etc. It was a total uninterrupted, messy asskicking that the crowd didn’t know what to make of. The other guys fuck up a lot, although Ishikawa working his signature reversals and submissions is a lot of fun, there are at least some tentative attempts at BattlARTS style where a scrub would try to work a leglock or armlock and that is enough for Yuki Ishikawa to carry you. The big spot of the match was some guy hitting an elbow drop off the second rope on Yuki. D-Man Parker is some skinny kid with kickpads and he was barely in this. The ending has both scrubs working segments against Ishikawa and they seemed to find their groove a bit there. Crowd mostly has no idea what to make of this as they are not sure who to cheer and who to boo but they pop for the Octopus Hold finish and you have to love that.

Bart Gunn Matches

 Bart Gunn & Johnny Ace vs. Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama, AJPW 6/9/1999

I imagine the 20 or so diehard traders of Japanese tapes who existed at this time scoffed at MOVEMENT, the team of Johnny Ace and Bart Gunn/Mike Barton. Even today some people scoff at Aces AJPW work, saying he was carried. But fuck that because Johnny Ace ruled and he was hanging and banging with Kobashi and Akiyama and post-Brawl 4 All Bart is such a great character and nothing to scoff at. The opening of this is really solid and full of cool little moments with real emphasis placed on solid moves like a Kobashi hitting a stalling vertical suplex on chunky Johnny Ace, or Barts really high jumping dropkick. The fun begins when Ace hits a surprise Ace Crusher to Akiyama on a chair outside the ring. We get a really solid control segment with Ace and Gunn really stretching Akiyamas rattled head and neck, building to Kobashi getting the hot tag only for Ace to catch him with a surprise Ace Crusher after an awesome sequence that was like a fast junior sequence except done by chunky heavyweights. They build to Akiyama getting another nice hot tag and it sets up this really awesome second half of the match with Ace busting out his awesome Ace Crushers left and right to crack people and Bart threatening to KO Kobashi with his dreaded punch. Bart looks absolutely massive so when he gets dropped on his neck with a half nelson suplex or Exploder it's double awesome. The nearfalls towards the end of this are real edge of the seat stuff, you get awesome moments like Gunn & Ace busting out a fucking Splash Mountain into a Neckbreaker, Akiyama getting absolutel spiked on Aces Cobra Clutch suplex, Kobashi being saved from a dangerous move at the last moment etc. Great shit and felt like MOVEMENT were putting it all together and working their absolute A-game to contain the power of BURNING.

Bart Gunn vs. Hardcore Holly, WWF 2/16/1999

The two sides of wrestling in 1999! This is Barts only WWF match besides the Butterbean fight in 1999, and he wouldn't come back until 2003 when he did 2 dark matches teaming with Jim Steele. This is a hardcore title match. While the hardcore title was mostly supposed to be comedic I guess, but these two work it without any humor at all, Holly hits hard as fuck, boots to the face and hard punches and they keep bringing out more and more  ridiculous props to smash over each others heads. Both guys take hard as fuck bumps on the steel ramp and then they just keep killing each other with the ring bell, a crate of bananas, water melons, a bag of flour etc. Finish has some guy in a weird mask doing a run in on Bart and throwing him off the stage with Bart taking this sick as fuck shoulder bump through a table. Brutal and comical stuff.

2022 MOTY List Update #5

 

Keita Yano vs. Hikaru Sato, Tenryu Project 9/19/2022 - EPIC

This was really long and thus a bit slow-paced and tentative here and there. That aside this was largely excellent. Yano did a ton of great matwork and I loved all of Satos vicious strikes, especially the constant kicks to the mid section. Sato zoning in on Yanos arm and busting out cool armbar variations was good although they may have gone a bit overboard. The finishing run had a bunch of cool Yano moments, such as for example working a takedown attempt for a ropebreak before turning it into a gritty leglock battle. I didn’t think it was the MOTY like some people – it was just a bit too long and slow for that – but it was really good stuff and worth watching all the way through.

Naoya Nomura & Hayato Mashita vs. Super Tiger II & Shingo Suzuki, DIANA 10/16/2022

This was four sleazy shooters doing a random undercard match on a joshi show. It easily could have been mailed in, but instead they busted their ass and had a match that was actually unpredictable, had no downtime, a few neat moments and was stiff and exciting. Big credit goes to Nomura who was just awesome with his out of nowhere spears and shoulder tackles. I also really enjoyed Shingo Suzuki, who apparently is a seasoned MMA fighter turned pro wrestler. He got some nice shooty exchanges out of people, and he had a really insane dive that I won't spoil. I also continue to be impressed by how STII is not completely broken down and even looking quite spirited, hitting cool spin kicks. I thought Mashita stunk a bit in the first minute of this but he wasn't bad at the end. For 9 minutes this was way way too fun.

GENKAI & Hitamaru Sasaki vs. HUB & Tigers Mask, Kyushu Pro, 11/12/2022

Once in a while I am reminded that Kyushu Pro puts on some really good matches. This was a match that showcased 4 cool unique wrestlers to the best of their abilities busting their asses, impressive considering everyone here is in their 40s. GENKAI did some really great shoulder selling, best "wounded beast" selling performance I've seen in a while, I also really liked how they didn't go for the obvious route by working his shoulder a bunch, instead people would try to tag him in the shoulder and he would overpower them, all while doing this great pained selling. HUB was really cool here, like a slithery version of Tajiri, he had a really nice opening segment against Genkai, and his weird whip thing actually looked super painful, he also had an insane right hook to Genkai when the whip didn't do it at one point and his jumping knees look great. Tigers Mask also looked good, he hit some painful looking kicks to Genkais shoulder and generally was really spry, I am annoyed his recent matches in Osaka Pro only seem to air in clips. Sasaki was the least guy in the match but he was still pretty solid, working a shootstyle mat segment against Tigers Mask. I will say his kicks and jumping knees look a bit weak compared to what Tigers Mask and HUB were doing. They worked this at a really good pace, doing plenty of tricked out stuff without going overboard, always sticking to their strengths, I actually wanted them to slow down  a bit because I was so into the story of their match. Regardless it was a really good long form match and ended at the right moment with a bunch of high notes.

2022 MOTY List

EMLL in 1990 #6 - 2/9/1990

 

Principe Island & Super Angel vs. Climax & Master

A match that is mostly famous because it has an unmasked La Parka, wrestling as Principe Island here. I guess these were all local or touring guys randomly getting a TV slot. Sometimes guys who only made TV once are better than some wrestler with extensive careers on tape, and there was some damn good wrestling in this. On the mat, these guys were definitely good enough to stand up to the CMLL regulars. When they stood up, Principe was the standout. The guy was close to a heavyweight for mexican standards, but he moved really fast and precise and had some cool spin kicks. I also really liked Climax, who was rocking 1998 Ryuji Yamakawa pants, and Master, who did this amusing thing where he kept tagging out on Principe island after getting the upper hand, until Principe goaded him back in and threw him with a bunch of really fast hip throws like a carny judo exhibition. The rudo beatdown went a bit long but Island made a nice comeback and it was a good little TV match in total.

Sombra Poblana & Tauro Jr. vs. Simbolo & Zorro de Oro

Wow, nice match. They definitely had their working boots on. It‘s funny how you can watch a ton of high end lucha and then a random old pairing like Sombra Poblana vs. Simbolo still delivers some stuff that catches you. Some really nice exchanges without being bog standard lucha. Some rudo shenanigans kicked in when Zorro de Oro stepped in, but they continued wrestling and I really appreciated that. They kept doing nice intricate exchanges until it was time for the rudos to kick ass. Some nice punches were thrown and Zorro even busted out a fucking ganso bomb, complete with a Kawada-style folding pin. The finishing sequence was brief but nice and had a huge dive that was sold as important. Good stuff considering this could have easily been another dogged standard undercard match.

Comando Ruso & Tony Arce & Vulcano vs. Remo Banda & Pantera & Octagon Jr.

We start right with the rudos doing a beatdown. They all throw nice punches, but you probably don‘t miss much if you fast forward through the first 6 or 7 minutes of this. After that it gets a lot more interesting as the technicos are allowed to look spectacular now. Remo Banda and Ruso were really going at each other, and Ruso made Banda look great by letting him hit some huge stuff and also punching him in the face. We get some more beatdown with Banda getting bloodied and having his ass kicked. Nice ending where everyone clears out so Banda and Ruso can do another faceoff. Bread and butter stuff but nicely done and actually got you excited for a Banda/Ruso singles, so they really got it all right!

Ciclon Ramirez & Gran Cochisse & Mascara Sagrada vs. El Egipcio & Pirata Morgan & Comando Ruso

Fun main event to cap off a good night of TV. Super Halcon was supposed to team with the rudos but wasn‘t cleared, so after some stalling Ruso comes out again to join them. Not sure what was up with that. First fall had some really nice smooth wrestling. I could watch Pirata Morgan go through routines and bump his ass off all day, the guy is such a great wrestler. Everyone looked good. Cochisse was in his singlet and kind of a mad bugger. He looked like he just lost a hair match and was fired up and wanted to take chunks out of the bad guys. Rudo beatdown was solid and the technico comeuppances were a lot of fun. I expected them to send the fans home happy, but instead the rudos unmasked Ramirez at an unexpected moment and we Cochisse jumping on him to help cover his face like the trooper he is.

Assorted Student Matches

Atsumi Manami & KISHIDA vs. Suikappu Kenchiro & Sasaki Complete Jr, CWP 12/10/2017

This is from CWP which means Come On Wrestling Party. I assume this is like a student wrestling fed so some things were a bit clunky, but you also get lots of fun unique things. The ruleset for this was interesting as the first 4 minutes was all grappling rule, then I believe 4 minutes of KO only and finally a regular pro wrestling match. The grappling and striking was really fun in an UWFish way, the pin combos and narrow nearfalls were really cool. As soon as striking became legal all 4 guys began waffling the hell out of each other with thudding kicks and knees, really way more heated and mean spirited than you expect a match between amateurs to get. Credible shoot-style spinebuster was easily the highlight.The finish was also damn great with the pin combos vs. Shoot submissions approach. Really really nice stuff, better and more inspired than what most pro leagues put on these days.

Kusuri Matsumura vs. Hinjaku Ningen Casshern, AZW 7/10/2022

 

Not exactly sure how to translate these names (Poor Human Casshern?). Another surprisingly great match from two “amateurs”, why can’t Japanese pro leagues put on matches this spirited in 2022?! This was like the best grand structure Japan singles I’ve seen in 2022 so far, iron out some of the exeuction problems Casshern has and you’d have one of the more outstanding singles of the decade. Starts solid enough with some nice smooth chain wrestling, but after a couple minutes this turns into smash mouth wrestling. Matsumura is a really great bruiser lighting up his skinny opponent with blistering chops. Matsumuras jumping boots were absolutely awesome and there are a ton of well respected pro wrestlers who don’t have any offense that good. Cassherns execution was a bit soft, the guy is built like a noodle, but I really appreciated his gameplan of attacking Matsumuras arm and going for jumping knees. It builds to this really fantastic tricked out finishing run that has maybe the best build to an octopus hold I’ve ever seen in a match, with a bunch of really choice counterwork around the move. Matsumura narrowly evading defeat and just blasting his opponent with gritty suplexes felt like something out of an epic NOAH match starring maybe Honda. Excellet stuff that puts many pro leagues to shame.

Added to the 2022 MOTY List.

Yasushi Sato vs. Dekai Ichimotsu, ? 12/15/2013

I don‘t know if Yasushi Sato was ever a student wrestler, and at this point in 2013 he‘s of course had several hundred pro matches already, but his opponent I am pretty sure is another hobbyist. Ichimotsu has a black t shirt training pants and wrestling shoes get up which is like the least intrigueing look you can possibly bring into a match, but he was really good and this was pretty much indistinguishable from a pro match. Of course Yasushi Sato is a really fucking great wrestler so he can have a damn great match with pretty much anyone, but Ichimotsu never looked lost and he brought quite a bit to the table. Ichimotsu had some impressive counters from underneath and he was vicious going for Satos arm, he also busted out a Nakaya Nielsen tier double stomp. He also had a nice variety of ways to attack the arm and his laser focus added a nice structure to the match. Like any Sato match the match had a bunch of really sweet matwork, awesome cradle and suplex spots, nifty counters and good psychology. Excellent match overall that anyone who‘s into technical unqiue matches should check out.

Scotty 2 Hotty Matches

Scotty 2 Hotty vs. Chavo Guerrero, Jr., WWF 7/22/2001

I really like Scotty 2 Hotty. He was slick, he had good worked punches, great timing and the dance moves are awesome. What more do you want a wrestler to have? Add in the fact that he was almost never given more than a few minutes in singles matches and you have a wrestler with a great portfolio of 3-4 minute TV sprints. And Chavo always busts his ass, so they have an awesome 6-7 minute match on this random HEAT episode. I really wish we could have gotten Chavo Jr. vs. Otani in their primes but Chavo Jr. vs. Scotty is the next best thing. Scotty looks great sliding underneath Chavo really fast, landing on his feet, hitting a great punch on the floor... Chavo always mixes so much high end shit into these short throwaway matches. In this case his springboard moves were awesome. They do a few great cutoffs and some big nearfalls, plus a classic Japanese big move finish. What more do you want?

Scotty 2 Hotty vs. Tajiri, WWF 7/2/2001

Tajiri is another short TV match king and this was basically a get-your-shit in 3 minute sprint with a few dandy moments. Scotty always does different cool things in his matches, talk about knowing how to keep your act fresh. In this case he hits some really fast elbow drops, a great spinning suplex, great superkick, big powerbomb counter, a slick re-entry flip into the ring etc. The finish was brilliant as Scotty gets ready to hit the Worm but Tajiri mists him in the face, in a clash of the coolest WWF moves of the early 2000s. It was like the 3 minute RAW match equivalent of Kobashi slipping out of the Emerald Frosion to hit the Burning Hammer.

Scotty 2 Hotty vs. Tajiri, WWF 1/29/2002

The rematch that also only goes 3 minutes! Man, can you imagine these two being given a proper stretched out 7 or 8 minute match?? This was a breathless sprint and there were some absolutely awesome slick spots. Obviously Tajiri is great with his kicks and smooth moves, but Scotty shows he can hang. Scotty has no problem working a knuckle lock and then dropkicking Tajiri right in the face, or working complicated reversal segments. The finish was absolutely awesome with both guys doing counter after counter, Tajiri having the slickest most awesome Tarantula set up you've ever seen etc. Amazing shit.

Scotty 2 Hotty vs. Dean Malenko, WWF 4/30/2000

Widely considered to be Scottys best match, probably because this one goes over 10 minutes and actually was on a PPV. Some commenters may argue that this was because of Dean, but really, Scotty is the heart and soul of this thing. He opens as a hóuse on fire throwing a wad of punches at Dean, working a fast segment with some cool counters before Dean starts cutting off his leg. Leg work was solid with Scotty making nice comebacks but if you've seen a few Scotty matches you know he was capable of more. The WORM after all the legwork was a bit iffy but what the hell, don't question the magic of something the crowd loved this much. Scottys fire is awesome and Dean just gives nothing. Really solid match with a great random finish.

Keita Yano Documentation #3

 

Keita Yano vs. Fugofugo Yumeji, EXIT 11/28/2010 - EPIC

This went 30 minutes, which makes it probably the most ambitious basement shootstyle match to happen on a paper tin mat (that we‘ve seen yet). First 15 or so minutes were all grappling and it was a mixture of shootstyle and more orthodox pro wrestling style holds. Yano already looked really good, the man was born to hit the mat hard even if it‘s a childrens play mat. Fugo is immovable but he had some impressive escapes and I loved whenever he would grab a headlock or facelock he would really wrench Yano. Yano reversing from below by putting a Hondaesque chokehold on Fugo, bridging over and then doing a bunch of 70s arm work was my favourite moment. When they stood up, the match was smarter than I expected. Fugo started mauling Yano as soon as he threw strikes, so Yano mostly avoided direct strike exchanges, instead trying to work Fugos back, hitting surprise dropkicks etc. They spend a good deal of time building to a Scorpion Deathlock which resulted in some nasty stretches. Yano almost knocking himself out when he tried to headbutt Fugo was fun. Fugos insanely stiff headbutt in the last few minutes also looked more violent than the headbutt that nearly killed Shibata. Yano looked done, bleeding and getting the taste slapped out of his mouth. Finish could have been more epic but it was good enough. This was some weird mix of a cerebral 70s match and shootstyle violence and it worked really well considering the length.

 

Keita Yano vs. Manabu Hara, BattlARTS 2/25/2007 - GREAT

 Looks like its Yanos debut match!! No Yanoisms, this is just a gnarly shootstyle bout with both guys really cracking each other with hits. I expected Yano to get trashed, but he held up pretty well, taking chunks out of Hara and stuffing his takedowns. Well, until Hara started trashing him anyways. Hara was kicking Yano like a dog and stepping on his neck like the mean bastard he is. Ending run was pretty great with Yano surviving more punishment than you expect and taking some chunks out of Hara with some great looking European Uppercuts and his neat bridging choke. There aren't many better ways to debut.

Keita Yano Documentation Project

JWP THE FIGHT 5/10/1997

 Watch (Really good card from top to bottom, check it out=

Mayumi Ozaki vs. Sari Osumi

I mostly remember Osumi for dressing in a nazi uniform later. She played the role of anxious rookie here who's terrified of Ozaki. Probably for good reason. The match was just a silly little splash but it had one or two nice moments. Ozaki had a really nasty cutoff where she double stomped Osumi and there was a funny moment where Osumi teased diving from the top but decided against it.

Tomoko Miyaguchi vs. Carlos Amano

I really like the later work of both these two, and they had a really really good basic rookie match here. Some really nice tight holds and scrambles on the ground, not really shootstyle matwork but just cool nifty exeuction on pro style headlocks and headscissors, Amano also had a really crafty escape twisting Miyaguchis ankle with her leg. Standup sections were fast and intense and they built to the few big spots they had at this stage really well. Amano already had her great flying armbars and there was a cool sequence where Amano hit a splash right into Miyaguchis outstretched legs and then Miyaguchi worked her over with Kitchen Sinks. I love a worker who makes use of the kitchen sink. Really good stuff.

 Dynamite Kansai & Sari Osumi & Emi Sakura vs. Tomoko Miyaguchi & Candy Okutsu & Command Bolshoi

 A 3 vs. 3 tag that had some really slick wrestling and good character work. Initially they focused on beating down Miyaguchi who had just done a match, but then they shifted to putting Sakura and Osumi and their silly ways in the focus. It made for some good underdog wrestling though, I especially liked Sakuras armbars and Magistral cradles. Kansai didn't do much but when she was in she was a monster, crushing people with her kicks. Bolshoi, Okutsu and Miyaguchi teaming up to take her down and hitting a huge 3 on 1 missile dropkick was impressive. Osumis hip attack stuff is funny and charming and Bolshoi basically palm striking her face off was one hell of a finish. One of those matches that won't win workrate awards but if wrestling didn't have character matches like this it would be a whole lot less fun.

Kanako Motoya vs. Tomoko Kuzumi

One of those 90s joshi matches that is best summed up as "two extremely athletic lunatics trying to crush each other". It was good though. Nobody brings up Kanako Motoya anymore, but she could go. Really dug all the rope climbing and springboard moves, really impressive stuff that they knew to time extremely well. Motoya also had the most god awful crushing senton in history ever in this, it looked like it just took 10 years off of Kuzumis life. Kuzumi took another absolutely lunatic face bump into Motoyas outstretched legs. There was some repetitiveness, for example Motoya hit like 7 flipping sentons at one point followed by Kuzumi hitting 5 butterfly suplexes in a row. And there wasn't much of a story. That said there was enough struggle and chippiness to keep this from being a trained monkey show so I just enjoyed the carnage. 

Cuty Suzuki & Plum Mariko vs. Devil Masami & Hikari Fukuoka

This is a really great match, but man it is hard to watch Plum get powerbombed and clutching her head.  There was a fantastic underdog vs. overdog story here, Masami and Fukuoka are basically a pair of monsters and Masami especially was killing everyone here, with Suzuki and Plum trying to work a smart match to beat them. Cuty is kind of a weirdly good wrestler, like imagine if Torrie Wilson threw absolutely sick suplexes and stiff open hands, the opening where she tries to step up to Fukuoka is really great already. I loved all the submission work and arm attack stuff by Suzuki and Mariko and they have a bunch of great big vs. little comeback spots. Fukuoka isn't as charismatic but she will absolutely kick right through you with her dropkicks and she always has that Moonsault Double Stomp which is one of the most menacing moves in wrestling ever, you don't even want her to hit that on anyone. The finishing run was a bit too much with Masami hitting the nastiest powerbomb series I've ever seen on Plum and a spot where Plum gets thrown headfirst into the guardrail. I try not to safety police matches normally but it's rough when you know the wrestler in the match died from head injuries.

The Library