Monday, February 6, 2023

Tanomusaku Toba Documentation #22

 

Tanomusaku Toba & Kota Ibushi vs. Manabu Hara & Katsumi Usuda, DDT 6/13/2007 - EPIC

Don’t know what was happening in DDT in 2007 that they were booking all these BattlARTS invasion matches but I am here for it. This was awesome and basically just pure asskicking all the way through. Pretty much perfectly digestable shootstyle stiff fest with minimal submission work and clear face/heel roles with Hara and Usuda being a pair of assholes and brutalizing Ibushi. Toba in DDT usually faces easy opposition and it was pretty awesome to see him here mixing it up with a pair of beasts and getting kicked in the face by Usuda. Ibushi cut out the bullshit and was just a gutsy fighter here, even his blown backflip kind of worked in the match. This was just a hair under 10 minutes and just incredibly stiff and exciting for the whole duration.


Tanomusaku Toba & Sanshiro Takagi vs. Manabu Hara & Katsumi Usuda, DDT 6/20/2007 - GREAT

I wasn’t sure how Takagi would do with the shooters, but he mostly does fine. Him dumping a table on Usuda and hitting a stiff dropkick was great, but his later stuff lacked the same intensity. Toba vs. BattlARTS guys was really great once again and his exchange with Usuda was must see. Usuda shoot headbutting Toba through a flurry of punches and kicks was awe inspiring.Toba would’ve had one hell of a career as a BattlARTS or FUTEN guy. I mean he still had one hell of a career but this stuff is where he shines most, and there’s so little of it. All the more reason to cherish random little matches like this more, I guess!


Tanomusaku Toba & MIKAMI vs. Kota Ibushi & HARASHIMA, DDT 4/11/2007 – FUN

JIP, which is too bad because on paper this is a great match. What we get is pretty fun though as we get a couple great Toba exchanges vs. Ibushi and HARASHIMA. Toba annihilating Ibushi with body blows and brutal kicks was really great. HARASHIMA isn’t afraid to eat punishment, hit back and then dive right into a Toba punch other. Toba also almost got ripped in half by a nasty Shima leglock. Everything else was solid and the Toba sections were absolutely worth checking out.

 

Tanomusaku Toba Documentation Project

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