BattlARTS History #5 - January + February 1997

1/21/1997

Ikuto Hidaka vs Shoichi Funaki

Hidakas debut match! And it’s a fun 5 minute scrap. Hidaka is bald, bandaged head, wearing kickpads, he looks nothing like the guy he’d become later, but you could see he was brimming with talent. There’s some really nice amateur rides, and Funaki busts out a crafty set up for a Fujiwara armbar. Funaki realizes he’s on veteran duty here and starts smacking Hidaka around and kicking him in his bandaged head in dickish ways and it’s really fun. Hidakas few highspots (dropkick, flip senton into an armbar that really popped the crowd) were integrated really well.

Alexander Otsuka vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa

The first half is kinda eh. Hoshikawa can engage in some decent grappling exchanges, but then drags things down with his tendency to try and force in irish whips. Otsuka at least makes him work hard for that irish whip, but it takes one out of the match, and the general lack of intensity does not help. It picks up when they start fucking nuking each other with Hoshikawa hitting an insane kick combo and his awesome looking diving kick, and Otsuka nuking him with his suplex, including an insane struggle over a dragon suplex that lead to Otsuka headbutting him in the back of the head. Always love two BattlARTS guys trying to nuke each other.

Gran Naniwa & Gran Hamada & Great Sasuke & Masato Yakushiji vs. Dick Togo & TAKA Michinoku & Shiryu & MEN’s Teioh

The Michinoku Pro crew rolls in on a BattlARTS card and hits one of their greatest matches ever, does that rule or what? Yeah it’s not a BattlARTS match but this kind of stylistic diversity is what made the promotion great. This is less of a crowd-pleasing showcase, it’s more of an intense frantic battle. These guys have all gotten so good now they can just hit their stuff shooting from the hip and mix things up no problem, and Korakuen Hall is absolutely excited going nuts for every single dive and complicated headscissor that they nail. It’s a frantic fight from the get go though with Kai En Tai going for outside brawling. We get some awesome Fujiwara-ish reversals from Gran Hamada here, really stealing the show while being in with a bunch of guys half his age, and Yakushiji hitting some beautiful stuff. The centerpiece of the match though is Naniwa with everyone trying to bully him and the little crab fighting back with gritty WAR-ish lariats. Eventually they rip his mask off, chair him and bloody him and we get some of the greatest grizzliest bloodiest minutes in wrestling history as he fucking gushes a fountain of blood and in turn tears up Shiryu. Chaos during the last couple minutes was awesome, I especially love Togo going with a chair after Sasuke while Sasuke dove off with that asai moonsault, before Togo himself eating that same chair in brutal fashion later. It’s a blazing hot match that delivers all the spectacular action and insane dives this crew can deliver along with some grizzly hateful violence and the incomparable underdog aura of GRAN NANIWA~, not much more needs to be said here.

Minoru Tanaka vs. Original Tiger Mask

A match that exceeed my expectations. Probably the most competitive you’ll see Tiger Mask being in the 90s, as Tanaka forced him into an actual contest instead of just running through his spots (something that he liked to do a lot post-return). Tanaka, to his credit, brought the fight and sold Tiger as this legendary behemoth of the ring that could crush him in an instant if given the chance. That low kick being the perfect example of this. He also came across as less spotty than usual, with his flying armbar looking like he really wanted to tear Sayamas arm out. At 10 minutes it’s packed with pretty good action. Perhaps the best match for either guy in the 90s?! Eitherway it’s really good and surprisingly a standout. Good action, good struggle, cool moments and a sense of Tanaka trying to topple a legend rather than old Tiger just being brought out to hit his spots for a crowd pleaser.

Daisuke Ikeda & Katsumi Usuda vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Takeshi Ono - EPIC

This was some truely high end BattlARTS tag team action. The first thing you notice is how on point all 4 guys on the mat were. The opening exchanges felt slick like U-Style matwork and always highly competitive, with the violence upgraded to BattlARTS standards. The brutality was of the charts here. The "tag team partners running in to make the save from a submission" where some of the must vicious I've seen and felt like PRIDE ground stomping, Ikeda at one point started throwing mule kicks on the ground, and Usuda and Ono threw some kicks that looked like nobody would get up from them. Man I don't even care whether there was a story or anything this match because the work was so frantic, hard fought and believable and sold so, so well I was 100% engrossed the entire time. The match also felt like it could end at anytime: at one point, Ikeda got his leg worked over with a few kicks from Ono and nice holds by Ishikawa (note the teamwork there), then Ono landed a series of skull crushing kicks on him. Ikeda believably beat the count, but his entire body language was such that you could see he was moments away from being finished, so he did the only reasonable thing and quietly slipped to his corner to tag out before collapsing like a broken man. That may have been my favourite moment of the match and it made the finish feel even sweeter where it feels like Ishikawa and Ono have the match in the bag and Ikeda just comes in and turns Ono's lights out to set up the finish. All 4 guys had career highlight performances, Ono did some stuff on the mat only he could do, Usuda stepped up big time and Ishikawa and Ikeda had some incredible exchanges together. Great, great match and a really compelling fusion of top notch shootstyle matwork, brawling and top level stiffness.

 2/20

Shoichi Funaki vs. Ikuto Hidaka

Hidaka is still rocking the kickpads and shooter look. He barrages Funaki with some pretty hard kicks to begin. Funaki is not thought of as much of an asskicker, but he is pretty effective smacking Hidaka around and leaning back hard when he grabs a half crab. It even builds off of Hidakas debut match when Funaki scouts his dropkick and just tries to rip him in half with a camel clutch. It’s just a 3 minute match and Hidaka brings a lot of fun energy already.

Alexander Otsuka vs. Katsumi Usuda

Otsuka had grown his hair out a bit here which just looks weird on him. This was decent shootstyle action early on, kind of slow paced with not a ton to stand out. Things pick up when Otsuka bodies Usuda with an insane German suplex. They get a bit more aggressive from that point forward including a great mat sequence with Otsuka trying his mightiest to force a Fujiwara armbar and Usuda trying to roll into a legbar, until he’s able to succeed and crank it back for the tap. The early goings weren’t much but the second half is worth a look if you want to see Otsuka being a suplex freak.

Takeshi Ono vs. Minoru Tanaka - Skippable

Well this was a bit of a waste. They went over 10 minutes but didn’t really have the material for it, so they basically spent 5 minutes dicking around with ‘cautious’ standup, and things didn’t exactly get going after that either. They tried to have a contest with more suspense and such but it just didn’t really build any intensity. I liked the bit where Ono ambushed Tanaka as he went to do a kip up. Really not a lot to this otherwise.

Daisuke Ikeda vs. Carl Greco

For a 8 minute match this was pretty beastly. Ikeda knew he was up against a monster, so he brought his A-game. The result was a bunch of really good exchanges. Whenever Ikeda saw an opening he would just go for the kill with his strikes, including almost stomping Carls face in with a vicious stomp. Carl was a fiend as we know him, always scrambling for submissions and hitting some big throws. Loved that back trip that spiked Ikeda. This was a reminder of how good wrestling can be even as an undercard match when both guys care to be competitive.

Viktor Krueger vs. Yuki Ishikawa

Krüger was getting better. Everything he does is kind of overshadowed by his freakish size, but he was getting more adept at the grappling and he wasn’t afraid to engage in some sicko headbutt exchanges with Ishikawa. As such this was a pretty fun match. It was perhaps a bit long at 17 minutes but for the most part it was pretty compelling action. They told the david vs goliath story about as good as possible while Ishikawa still looked like the grappling master. There was one reversal to Kruegers powerbomb in here that was pretty awesome Fujiwara-esque, and later they even went for the Andre/Mighty Inoue powerbomb counter. They had the right idea too with Krueger constantly going for the deadly powerbomb and Ishikawa trying to lock in an octopus hold on the big man. In the end Ishikawa was able to survive the powerbomb but a big double axe handle from Krueger did him in which was a pretty cool finish.

2/28

Takeshi Ono vs. Ikuto Hidaka - FUN

This was when Hidaka had just debuted and he was introduced to the world of BattlARTS the hard way. Ono just destroys him here, punches, kicks with abadon, Hidaka is able to take him down and immediately Ono elbows him in the back of the head and tries twisting his leg off. Hidaka is able to score a single go behind, with Ono frantically selling the threat of a German suplex for a moment before Hidaka hits a scrappy Mysterious Rana in a super cool moment. Shortly after Ono puts his lights out though. For under 3 minute rookie squashes this was really cool.

Shoichi Funaki vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa

I was thinking they would just do a junior style match, and well they did pretty much just that. Although there was some slick matwork with Funaki looking pretty impressive. I thought he would do his thing where he goes for leg attacks on the more aggressive Hoshikawa but instead it was Hoshikawa who had to resort to stopping Funaki after he got dropped by a nasty fisherman buster. It wasn’t much of a BattlARTS style match but their shit looked good. Funaki took the win pretty easily with the Shawn Capture.

Yuki Ishikawa vs. Alexander Otsuka

Well these two are BattlARTS gods and they can’t have a bad match. There was some great matwork here, really slick stuff with Otsuka always doing something more interesting than everyone else. That guy had such a way of rolling in and out of odd positions and into submissions, there’s no one else quite like him. There was also a surprising amount of animosity as they both hit each other with some evil god forsaken headbutts. Otsuka was also hellbent on killing Ishikawa to death with his suplexes as usual, there was one pretty unreal uranage where he lifted him from the ground. So while it was a 10 minute undercard match they pretty much went hard and had a great little wrestling match.

Minoru Tanaka vs. Gran Hamada

Gran Hamada working BattlARTS style huh? He isn’t much of a shooter, but he did his best I thought. Tanaka kind of ate him up early on the mat early and didn’t look bad while doing so. It gave the match a bit of a story and Hamada was smart enough to not try any rope running or anything like that, unlike a certain Naohiro Hoshikawa. Tanaka was pretty gentle besides one hard kick to the chest. This was kind of deliberate and not super explosive but it was a decent match, if you can get over the fact Hamada has such plot armor that Tanaka cannot beat him even in his own style.

Daisuke Ikeda & Katsumi Usuda vs. Carl Greco & Viktor Krueger

A lot of good shit in this tag to close out this TV block. Anytime Carl is in it’s just great straight forward shootstyle action, and Usuda ain’t lazy either. These two are a great match up and always deliver. Krueger was continueing to get better, really finding his way into becoming a really fun monster. He was doing lots of actively cool stuff, he had a wrist takedown that came across really believable thanks to his bear paw hands, he also had this great twisting headlock into a guillotine choke. Ikeda was stepping up to the fight and it’s some compelling big vs. small action. Also because Ikeda is involved there’s always a chance you might just see the most evil kick you’ve ever seen any moment. At the end Krueger hurled Usuda to the side and dropped him with one of the most brutal powerbombs you’ll ever see and an unexpected and chaotic finish occurs. Really nice stuff and shows you how loaded 1997 BattlARTs was getting with action this good even on small shows.

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BattlARTS History #4 - November + December 1996

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12/25

Tag Tournament Comm 

 11/27
Yuki Ishikawa & Alexander Otsuka vs. Minoru Tanaka & Naohiro Hoshikawa
This was pretty much just clips, which is a bit regrettable because it looked like good stuff. Even Tanaka and Hoshikawa were bringing it in some good looking shootstyle exchanges and the crowd was excited. Ishikawa did a thing where he stopped an attempted takedown, crossfaced Tanaka to bring him up and then just slapped him in the face. Always dig little evil things like that.

Daisuke Ikeda & Takeshi Ono vs. Carl Malenko & Viktor Krüger
Also just a clip pretty much from what seemed like a good matchup. Krüger seemed to have an idea of what to do i.e. just trying to be Vader and Carl was insanely slick on the mat as always.

11/28
Minoru Tanaka & Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. TAKA Michinoku & Shoichi Funaki
We only get like 40 seconds of this and what was shown wasn't really shootstyle, which is kinda to be expected from them. Tanaka and TAKA reprised the stuff they did in their singles matches all year so I guess there was nothing surprising here.

Yuki Ishikawa & Alexander Otsuka vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Takeshi Ono
Regrettably there was also only about 3 minutes of this : ( Looked to be really good stuff in the same vein as their big match the previous month, with Ikeda and Ono beating the hell out of their opponents and Otsuka hitting some big suplexes.

11/30
TAKA Michinoku & Shoichi Funaki vs. Viktor Krüger & Carl Malenko
Krüger is acting invincible here, but Funaki and TAKA can figure out ways to hurt him, so it's fun. Besides that Krüger is hitting powermoves and clubbing people, thoug he's not quite hitting the Vader-in-UWFi-groove that he needs to be really good. But he's nice enough to even catch TAKAs spaceman dive, allowing Funaki to get a sneaky win with a nifty shootstyle figure 4.

Daisuke Ikeda & Takeshi Ono vs. Minoru Tanaka & Naohiro Hoshikawa
Another match I would've liked to see in full, simply because Team Taco are awesome. They were beating the shit out of Hoshikawa and Tanaka here and it kind of brought out their inner asskicker in turn. A comp tape with matches from a tournament clipping so much feels criminal.

12/3
Viktor Krüger & Carl Malenko vs. Minoru Tanaka & Naohiro Hoshikawa
More of invincible Krüger. We don't get much of this but Krüger absolutely destroys Hoshikawa with a sick ass powerbomb here. He sure wasn't holding back with those.

TAKA Michinoku & Shoichi Funaki vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Alexander Otsuka
We get pretty much the finish of this with Kai En Tai being ratboys and using double teams to their advantage to get a win over the superior shooters.

12/4
Viktor Krüger & Carl Malenko vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Alexander Otsuka
Thankfully, this also aired on Champ Forum so we get this in full. Krüger continues to be a fun clumsy shootstyle monster and Carl was just a machine here. Lots of matwork between Carl and Yuki and Alexander, as they tried to isolate him, and it was really good slick stuff. Ishikawa also decided to slap the shit out of Krüger which lead to some fun aggression although Krügers striking is not exactly refined. I can totally get behind Viktor and Carl as a team with Carl bringing the wrestling and Krüger just tagging in to powerbomb people to death.

Daisuke Ikeda & Takeshi Ono vs. TAKA Michinoku & Shoichi Funaki - Fun
Fun tag that had a chaotic beginning with Ono & Ikeda immediately going to their brawling and Funaki hitting a surprise dive before getting literally kicked off the stage. Kai En Tai pretty much stuck to submissions here, and while they knew how to do that stuff I thought that segment went a little long as they just kept slapping submissions on Ikeda. We do get some really fun matwork from Ono, and a great hot tag from where he would try to KO people with flying knees to the face. I would've liked to see Team Taco kick ass a bit more but it was a fun match.

Finals: Daisuke Ikeda & Takeshi Ono vs. Viktor Krüger & Carl Malenko - Fun
Krüger decided to try some shootstyle here, and your mileage may vary on how good exactly that was. It's clear he's very limited and the likes of Ono would literally grapple circles around him if only he wasn't such a big oaf. It's an amusing oddity but not exactly great wrestling (yet). Thankfully Carl was also in the match to salvage things with some awesome matwork. He was going all out with his barefooted grappling here and it was great to see Ikeda and Ono trying to avoid his signature submissions. The finish involved Krüger and while there was still some slight awkwardness he took some punishment and in turn laid in some clubbing blows of his own and that big powerbomb, proving he was at least there in spirit.


12/25
Kazumasa Fujimoto vs Michiya Chiba
No idea who these guys are. They both look like wrestlers - with one guy rocking a Bret Hart colour scheme and the worlds ugliest bowl cut + ponytail combo, and the other looking like Katsumi Usudas skinny younger brother. They grapple for a minute, one guy taps out to an armbar, and they were never seen again.

Satoshi Yoneyama vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa
We JIP right to them trying some irish whips and blowing things really awkwardly. They aren't very good yet, but Yoneyama has nice kicks, and Hoshikawa hits a cool oddball jumping DDT into a facelock. I'm a sucker for odd combinations like that you really only get in this kinda hybrid shootstyle settings or amateur-pro wrestling. The finish was kinda cool with Hoshikawa catching a rolling kick and just pulling back on the leg for the tap. But it's still probably for the better they only showed about 4 minutes of this.

Yuki Ishikawa vs. Minoru Tanaka
Minoru Tanaka brought the fight here. Made me think he could've had a pretty great career if he wasn't relegated to being the shootstyle highspot guy so much. He was a lot more aggressive than usual here, and not fooling around on the mat. In fairness, he was facing Yuki Ishikawa. There was some super gritty face punching and skull cracking headbutting going on. At one point Tanaka stopped an attempted takedown from Ishikawa with a stomp and felt not far off from an Ishikawa/Ikeda match. Tanaka was really cracking Ishikawa towards the end too with some big bombs, and he still looked slick the way he would lock in a leglock from a suplex etc. His ultra tight triangle choke was also a highlight. Ishikawa ended up winning with a surprise submission and I thought it could've used a bit more from him, though his desperation arm trap suplex was pretty great. Still pretty fucking gnarly action for a midcard match here.

Takeshi Ono & Katsumi Usuda vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Alexander Otsuka, BattlARTS 12/25/1996 - EPIC

 This was the good BattlARTS tag action that your brain craves. Ikeda and Ono fighting each other was pretty sick, as they really seemed out for blood. The other two were a bit tepid early, but started bringing it more as the match progressed. Especially liked Otsuka sneaking up on Usuda from behind as he was busy with Ikeda, and dumping him right on his head with a cheap suplex. The match would break out into a brawl a few times but mostly stay in the ring. There's a great Ikeda/Usuda exchange, and Ono was a real fucker trying to kick peoples skulls in. I would've liked Otsuka to maybe play a bigger role at the end but it suited the 'Anything can happen' vibe they were going for. 

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BattlARTS History #3 - October 1996

 
Minoru Tanaka vs Katsumi Usuda, 10/2/1996
Not the most exciting shootstyle as neither guy seemed particularily inspired. Thy were rolling on the mat like they were warming up. There were a few good kick combos from Usuda, but it's a BattlARTS match. Tanaka added pretty much nothing.

Minoru Tanaka vs Shoichi Funaki, 10/4/1996
Tanaka hits a big dropkick and kick combo to start but is quickly cut off by a dropkick to the knee from Funaki. We then get a solid 5 or 6 minutes of Funaki working the leg which means he's just slapping on various basic leglocks and Tanaka slowly crawls to the ropes. Tanaka gets the win with a flash armbar at 7 and a half minutes. This is the kind of pro wrestling that really puts you to the test because it makes sense and is executed solid but feels like a complete waste still.


Takeshi Ono & Daisuke Ikeda vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Naohiro Hoshikawa, BattlARTS 10/2/1996 - GREAT

I think the earliest showing of Ikeda and Ono teaming, and they are already a unit. This wasn‘t an all out brawl like many of these matches, but the opening Ikeda/Ishikawa work was tough as nails. These guys locking in submissions look like they‘re trying to bend iron bars. Hoshikawa was solid, and got punched in the face for his troubles by Ono when he tried going for an Irish Whip. Ono and Ikeda eventually cracked up the violence attacking people two on one, Ono kicking people in the face hard and both guys landing some brutal saves. It ended a bit early as Ikeda bloodied Hoshikawas nose and dispatched him like a piece of trash so you didn‘t get a grandstand final, but the match delivered everything you want from Team Taco. 


Daisuke Ikeda & Takeshi Ono vs Katsumi Usuda & Yuki Ishikawa, BattlARTS 10/4/1996

This ones JIP. Not quite as great as you'd hope for given you have 4 of the 5 best guys in the company at this point in the match, but still pretty good BattlARTS style tag action. The shenanigans of Ikeda and Ono were in full effect once again. Mostly ground-based action and at this point their matwork was not yet super exciting, but enough crushing blows and big suplexes to make this a wortwhile quick. It seems Ishikawa had not quite the arsenal yet to really fire back and as such he got KO'd hard after a brief final stand off with Ikeda. Ono was a stiff bastard and relentless on the mat as usual, seemingly never quitting. Usuda was a bit non-descript but he put in the work as always. It seems Team Taco are unstoppable at this point which, sets up their faceoff with Ishikawa and Otsuka at the big Korakuen Hall show later that month nicely.


10/30/1996

 
Tetsuhiro Kuroda vs Satoshi Yoneyama
Two young guys mauling each other hard for 5 minutes and I can get all the way behind that. Yoneyama hits Kuroda with a hard kick barrage right at the go and Kuroda would hit back hard with some really hard elbows and kicks. Kuroda feels very much like a pro wrestler forced to shoot here with the way he locks in a pro wrestling style spinning toe hold and cinches it so hard that it believably forces a rope break and it's a lot of fun. 

Viktor Krüger vs Shoichi Funaki
Krüger was a big austrian guy, who had a background in American football somehow and WCW ambitions at some point. As a transplant to BattlARTS he was super weird and random but they worked their hardest to make it work. This was pretty much a pro wrestling match with Funaki working full on cat and mouse spots, slipping underneath, getting chased, running the ropes. Could've had almost the exact same match on Velocity, like it's hard to imagine Funaki vs Kane being much different. It's fun though as Funaki manages to not look like a chump and even almost submits Krüger a few times. Krüger looked somewhat inept but made it through the match without hiccups.

Carl Malenko vs Katsumi Usuda
Mostly grappling, and they sure do some slick grappling. It could've been a bit better considering how great both guys can be when they're on but that's just a minor complaint when you get 2 beast matworkers grappling it out for 10 minutes. Crowd was really into it too and it's always cool to hear a Korakuen Hall reacting to someone grabbing a heel hook. Their best match so far?!

TAKA Michinoku vs Minoru Tanaka
The conclusion to their year-long rivalry! Some really good fireworks at the end here with some great submission nearfalls, a few violent shotai rushes from Tanaka and both guys trying to crunch each others necks with snatched Michinoku Drivers and big suplexes. Still I thought shorter matches suit them better at this point, as it felt like not a ton happened in the first 10 minutes as it was just rather tentative unspectacular work. Still for 'epic' feeling this might be your match just for it's length and build, even though their earlier matches have been more compact. Still I love how the crowd flips out for even a basic toe hold counter, and there's s great finish here with a perfect execution of how to do a sleeper.

Takeshi Ono & Daisuke Ikeda vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Alexander Otsuka (BattlARTS 10/30/1996) - EPIC

Okay, everybody knows this match is amazing. In context, it's pretty much the quintessence of what BattlARTS had been doing that year, so it was a suitable main event to their first Korakuen Hall show. Ikeda and Ono were an amazing pair of absolute pricks here, really upping the heel tactics they've in part displayed before up to 11 and trying to stomp Ishikawa and Otsuka to a paste. Right at the start they double team Ishikawa pasting him with kicks and cutting off the ring to isolate him while he busts out cool mat counters to defend himself. Ishikawa and Otsuka in turn took insane beatings and retaliated with some insane suplexes and a few choice revenge spots. In between that they do lots of really gritty feeling matwork. It really felt on a different level to shootstyle tag-wrestling up to that point. There was one bit that resembled modern MMA where Ono kept stopping Otsukas takedown attempts and trying to scramble his brains with super violent kicks. I don't have to tell you that all the Ishikawa/Ikeda exchanges were just glorious brutality. Some of the hardest stuff they ever did, and their last exchange was just mental, full on punches do the face, Ikeda hitting these crazy back kick while upside down, it was hatred embodied. Ishikawa wasn't quite the full-on Inoki worshipper yet and he kept doing those Jimmy Snuka jumping headbutts. Otsuka has these really awesome moments of explosive hot tags where he just runs in and snatches and dumps somebody on their head right off the bat, he was a suplex monster in this. Just like Ishikawa/Ikeda had their dynamic he has this dynamic with Takeshi Ono, who spends most of the fight on the apron waiting to sneak in and kick somebody in the eye to break a submission. Otsuka pummeling Ono around was pretty great and when he hits that big giant swing it's just transcendental. When Ono actually was in the ring, we got to see either his slick skinny ratboy grappling or his reckless kicks. We also get to see what Ishikawa is really about as later in the match he gets his comeuppance hooking one nastier and nastier submission on Ikeda. What a quintessential piece of 90s wrestling greatness, up there with your high end AJPW tags or Michinoku Pro multimans or FMW explosion deathmatches, just a snapshot of a totally unique point in time with these dudes just going all out on the mat, this is what BattlARTS really was all about. And man their final showdown is just pure undistillated face punching goodness. Awesome matwork, big suplexes, intrigueing tag psychology, all-time brutality, just one of the sickest matches ever.

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Complete Takeshi Ono 

BattlARTS History #2: May - September 1996

 Dieuseul Berto vs Alexander Otsuka, 5/31

Dieuseul Berto! This was a fun match. Berto is really spry and it makes for some good grappling exchanges. He'd also throw these stinging palm strikes and kung fu kicks. And Otsuka does dump him with some pretty hard suplexes. Based on this I wouldn't have minded Berto to stay with the BattlARTs crew for longer because he could still go.

 Takeshi Ono vs. Katsumi Usuda, BattlARTS 5/31/1996 - GREAT

This was 5 minutes of seriously competitive shootstyle. Basically like another take on the grappling match these two had in 2001, but with strikes. Ono didn't have the gloves yet, but was a tenacious grappler. His hair as also amazing. Usuda battered him early on with nasty kicks and knees but Ono made himself respected. Some pretty great stuff here, including Ono hitting a monster german suplex, or eating a backhand from Usuda only to pick him up and slam him. Great finish. These two always make the most out of every given second.

TAKA Michinoku vs Minoru Tanaka, BattlARTS 5/31/96

This was longer than their previous match, and as such it dragged a bit. Pretty much all matwork in the first 10 minutes, and while it was competent there wasn't exactly much spark to it. They came alive when it was time to roll out their junior spots and nearfalls, and it was a pretty good finishing run. TAKA kept trying to do some fighting spirit no selling in response to Tanakas head kicks and Tanaka just kicked him back down. That should happen more often when someone tries that nonsense. There was good stuff here but at this poit going 10 minutes suits them better.

Yuki Ishikawa & Minoru Tanaka vs Takeshi Ono & Daisuke Ikeda, 7/17/1996 - GREAT

A BattlARTS tag that I actually don't recall seeing before as it was just lost in the cracks of a random Champ Forum airing. With that kind of premise you'd hope that this will be a hidden gem, and... it's not quite a hidden gem, but it's still seriously good stuff. Probably the most jarring thing about going to watch BattlARTS from 30 years ago is how competitive everything is. These guys are relentless on the mat and don't kid around with any of their striking. There is not much structure, but that kind of makes it more interesting. It doesn't always produce the most aesthetically pleasing wrestling but it sure stays fresh because it's unpredictable and believable, no cookie cutter stuff just hard fighting. This was going solid in the early minutes. Violence increased when Ishikawa and Ikeda faced off obviously, with Onos punches and kicks also being highlights. After some raw as hell Ishikawa/Ikeda exchanges Ono stepped and even amped up the brutality with some hard shows to Ishikawa. Tanaka is the weakest guy in the match, though Ono pretty much carries him with his unrelenting matwork and brutal strikes. Ono seemignly never tires and is constantly trying to choke someone out on the mat so there's hardly a dull moment when he's in. There's also some nifty teamwork, an out of nowhere outside brawl and the occasional odd touch like Ikeda hitting a northern lights suplex over the rope and Ishikawa breaking up a pin with an insanely sick Killer Kowalski level knee drop. The ingredients to an EPIC BattlARTS tag were cooking in this and they would soon put it all together, but this stuff still stands out as immensely enjoyable to watch with 2026 eyes.

TAKA Michinoku & Shoichi Funaki vs Takeshi Ono & Satoshi Yoneyama, 7/19 - Fun

Ooooh this ones a fun discovery. Basically the Kai En Tai guys have their hands full with these shootstylists so they would play the numbers game and rely on sneaky cutoffs and saves. Lots of fun dickish smacks and ratty dropkicks from Funaki and TAKA here. Ono is good as usual pounding on these bastards and just trying to submit people. Yone still feels very rough but he does bring some fun stuff. Needed a bit more of Yone kicking the hell out of these Michinoku Pro guys and less clumsy Yone trying to work the mat. He did go for a mongolion chop of the top rope of all things, and he had a great looking jumping boot outside the ring. Just a lot of stuff going on. TAKA looked quite good grappling and he busted out an awesome deadlift German on Yone. The kind of action that only BattlARTS can deliver.

Daisuke Ikeda vs Dieseul Berto, 7/19 
Quality match with Berto being very game. You'd think with Berto being a PWFG veteran and all maybe Ikeda would be respectful, but nope. He was really beating on Berto here with knees and punches on the ground, even clawing at his face. This is not gentlemans sport to Daisuke Ikeda, and you gotta fight for your right to party. Berto kept finding answers with his crafty reversals though, so eventually Ikeda just went for his bandaged arm and cranked a Fujiwara armbar for the tap. Could've been bigger than it was, but they made it feel like an important match and it was cool. After this there's an ad for a K1 game on PS!? Wow, didn't know that was a thing. It looks awesome.

Satoshi Yoneyama vs Alexander Otsuka, 7/17
We JIP almost to the finish. I guess they are trying to make something out of Yone now, as he's allowed to hit a shitty looking dropkick. His rolling kick still looks cool. Otsuka goes for a sweet looking arm spin throw, but Yone hangs on to lock in a choke for the surprise tapout. Was this a sign of bigger things to come for Satoshi Yoneyama soon? Well, he made 0 wins in the 1996 Young Generation Battle tournament, so I guess the answer is no.

Takeshi Ono vs Carl Malenko, 8/4/1996 - FUN

Pretty much a mat sprint with both guys doing fast scrambles and locking in slick submissions. Ono can totally scrap with Carl and give him all he can handle on the mat. Ono also has the gloves now and he was definitely making Carl eat those fists a few times. The clipping here certainly is annoying but it's 5 minutes of all around BattlARTs undercard goodness.

TAKA Michinoku vs Minoru Tanaka, 8/4/1996
We get the last 7 minutes of a 30 minute draw. They pretty much did their stuff, some more some less good, kinda disliked TAKA just no-selling to hit some Michinoku Drivers but who cares. Knowing their match from May already felt too long at half this length I am not super sad that we don't have the full thing. Tanaka integrating his dropkicks into a shootstyle environment is kinda interesting, I liked the TAKAs head was shaking as he went down for a dropkick KO. They also spend about a minute in a pointless figure 4 leglock. You'll probably do better to just stick with their earlier match that went just 10 minutes.

Yuki Ishikawa vs Daisuke Ikeda, 8/4/1996
You know they are the one and only. Sadly JIP of their first duel in BattlARTS, but we still get the most of it with 8 minutes of 11 shown. These two beat the fuck out of each other as you expect. Rarely has a basic face stomp looked as mean as when these guys are doing it. I especially liked all the parts where they hit each other straight in the mush. Ikedas face-blasting lariats are already awe inspiring. It's still a bit more shootstyle focussed than their later meetings, so you get these nifty Ishikawa suplexes. Still, this is all about the brutality, and they delivered plenty of brutality in glorious fashion. Could be the best BattlARTS singles of 1996...

Alexander Otsuka vs Tetsuhiro Kuroda, 8/5/1996
Kuroda doing shootstyle? What do you know, the 30 seconds of this they showed weren't bad! Granted, he was grappling with Otsuka, so it was bound to be good. Kuroda even wins the match in just 5 minutes with a German suplex followed by a lariat. They really must have owed FMW something.


Satoshi Yoneyama vs Dieuseul Berto, 8/5/1996

Fun little match. Yoneyama rushed Berto with some pretty hard kicks early on, but the veteran would end up pushing through. Berto continues to bring some fun matwork and striking and hit Yoneyama pretty hard with his palm strikes.

Katsumi Usuda vs Carl Malenko, 8/5/1996
Some good shootstyle action here. I always enjoy seeing Carl grapple it out, and Usuda is no pushover. This feels very much like two guys who are unrelenting on the attack facing off. Some really nice counters and aggression here. It needed perhaps a slightly more extraordinary finishing to really be a great bout but it's really enjoyable hard working stuff anyways.

Masahito Kakihara vs Satoshi Yoneyama, 8/25

I had no idea Kakihara did BattlARTS. And well it was a short love affair. Yoneyama briefly manages to outgrapple Kakihara but Kakihara quickly grabs a leg and leans back hard on the single leg crab for the tap. Afterwards they show an ad for the first Virtual Pro Wrestling game. Boy wasn't 1996 a time to be alive.

Alexander Otsuka vs Minoru Tanaka, 8/25/1996

Aw yeah this one takes place in a coliseum, in sizzling summer heat. And they gave the audience a fun match. Pretty much all action with both guys busting out the stuff that they shine out. Tanaka with the big kicks and flash submissions, and Otsuka absolutely killing him with throws. So pretty much what you expect but the vibe was really cool here. The audience took a liking to Otsuka and he rewarded them dropping Tanaka on his skull with a dragon suplex for a nice KO win.

Yuki Ishikawa vs Carl Malenko, 8/25/1996
Just a couple minutes. Pretty much just Carl taking Ishikawa apart, before Ishikawa caught him in a Fujiwara signature reversal to tap him out. They would go on to have bigger and better matches in the future but I always enjoy a good shot of a cool submission.

Daisuke Ikeda vs Dieuseul Berto, 8/25/1996
Fuck yeah it's more of Dieuseul Berto. He puts a really cool neck crank on Ikeda here during the grappling. Ikeda stands up and rushes him with strikes. Berto takes a Dai-Chan bomber right to the face that looks harrowing. Berto is able to survive, but fires back not quite had enough and soon Ikeda catches him with another cool submission counter into an achilles hold for the tap.

Yuki Ishikawa vs Naohiro Hoshikawa, 8/31/1996

JIP right to the part where they start hitting each other really hard. Hoshikawa was really laying into Ishikawa with his kicks and throwing hands, and Ishikawa cracked him right back with really hard headbutts and punches. Thought it was looking like pretty great BattlARTS stuff but then the match kind of veered off into junior territory when Hoshikawa kept insisting on his corner whip and Ishikawa busting out an awkward huracanrana and it didn't really look particularily good or well integrated. Still you may want to check out a few minutes of this because it was hard stuff.

Takeshi Ono vs. Katsumi Usuda, BattlARTS 8/31/1996 - FUN

These two always wrestle a different match against each other. Ono has the gloves here, and both guys are barefoot. There are some brief moments where Ono tries to punch Usuda out but this was mostly grappling. Really really slick stuff. Only 4 minutes where shown and I would love to see the whole thing because it looked like another goodie. Absolutely worth checking out the grappling here, though.

Minoru Tanaka vs Shoichi Funaki, 9/1/1996

Not the most substantial shootstyle, as they basically stuck to their spots, but they looked good. Tanaka really leathered Funaki with his kicks, getting in some good combos. He looked unstoppable but then Funaki caught him in a leglock and tapped him out just like that.

Minoru Tanaka vs Carl Greco, 9/1/1996
Just a few minutes of this. Not much to see here except Tanaka butchering an attempt at a German suplex. Boy Tanaka kind of sucks on the mat here. You can't lay around this much when you're facing Carl Greco. At least we get Carl getting the win with a cool modified triangle choke.

Takeshi Ono vs. Daisuke Ikeda, BattlARTS 9/1/1996 - FUN

Only 4 minutes shown, but it was 4 minutes of that sweet BattlARTS action we all crave. You get some smooth matwork, Ikeda suplexing scrawny Ono around, and some brutal near KOs. Pretty much a short highlight reel of what these guys can do, and these are two of the best Japanese wrestlers ever so it was really cool. Especially dug Ono unloading the punches and a jumping knee, as well as Ikeda trying to make him throw up with a nasty spin kick to the stomach.

Yuki Ishikawa vs Katsumi Usuda, 9/1/1996
Only 4 minutes of this, which is regrettable because there's some really hard stuff here. We JIP right to Usuda knocking the hell out of Ishikawa with some kicks and palm strikes, and because it's Ishikawa you know he was taking some extra brutal kicks. Ishikawa catches a kick and slaps Usuda right in the mush then hits a sweet deadlift german suplex. There's a grittiness to BattlARTS grappling - guys elbowing each other in the ribs, hitting headbutts etc that feels not as strong in other shootstyle leagues. It makes it a bit less pretty, but also more gnarly. Usuda advances in the tournament after beating the shit out of Ishikawa some more.

Takeshi Ono vs Yuki Ishikawa, 9/1/1996 - GREAT
Nasty fight, with both guys hellbent on tapping the other out. Ono was starting to soak in his nasty fucker energy. He was mauling Ishikawa with his strikes, and breaking out of submissions by kicking Ishikawa in the face. Some nasty as hell leglocks here, with Ono breaking out of an ultra tight heel hook  by kicking Ishikawa right in the eye. Ishikawa seemed focussed on making Ono submit, which proved no easy taste, though he did slap the shit out of him at one point. This is one for the grappling freaks but I thought it really built to something good.

Daisuke Ikeda vs Katsumi Usuda, 9/1/1996
Awesome tournament finale. Usuda looked like a killer and was coming straight at Ikeda, who seemed to be on a bad leg. Some of the most dramatic and violent strike exchanges of the year for sure. Usuda seemed to be strategically taking Ikeda apart. Ikedas selling and desperation comebacks were quite great. Last kick combo in the corner was just annihilation. It's a fairly short match but the intensity was great and they made the most out of everything.

 The Library

Complete Takeshi Ono Documentation 

BattlARTS History #1: January - April 1996

 1/13/1996

(actually, this was NOT the offical BattlARTS debut. It was a produce show run by a booking agency, they just decided to let the BattlARTS guys center stage, technically speaking. But for all intents and purposes it's the BattlARTS debut show. 

Minoru Tanaka vs. Satoshi Yoneyama (BattlARTS 1/13/1996)

BattlARTS begins. And the world would never be the same! Unfortunately, the Champ Forum broadcast does not show us the amazing sounding Pequeno Guerrero vs Takashi Okamura opening match. Yone has a shaven head and is wearing some funky looking martial arts pants Basically Yoneyama is useless on the mat so Tanaka uses him as a punching bag and dumps him with impressive suplexes. Normally I dread watching Tanaka but he he looked like a prick here and really roughed up Yoneyama with brutal knees and shotais, so that was refreshing. Even spiking him on his head with a nasty half-hooked Package Piledriver. Yoneyama gets pretty fired up flurry hitting his abisegiri which is always cool but is soon put to pasture. Short, violent, kind of out of nowhere, a fitting beginning to the promotion.


 Takeshi Ono vs. Alexander Otsuka, BattlARTS 1/13

I already watched this for my Takeshi Ono project and let me tell you, it holds up all the way as a fucking awesome 8 minute undercard shootstyle war. Ono is relentless trying to tap out Otsuka and occasionally trying to kick his brains in, and the both absolutely nuke each other with some suplexes. Just go watch this if you haven't, and even if you have seen it watch it again. Should point out that Onos heel hook reversal after almost getting killed by a suplex was ridiculously sick and like something out of an epic MMA fight.


Hisakatsu Oya & Ricky Fuji vs Koji Nakagawa & Tetsuhiro Kuroda, 1/13

This sleazebag FMW tag is a bit of an odd addition to a BattlARTS card, but that's part of the BattlARTS charm, you always get some odd extras. This actually looks like it would've been worth seeing in full because there was some violence, Nakagawa was bleeding, Kuroda ate a tiger driver on the floor and Oya is always killing people with his insane backdrop suplex. You know it was a wild era when Shawn Michaels worshipper Ricky Fuji was uncorking really hard offense, like crowning Nakagawa with a massive brainbuster. Nakagawas Bret Hart worshipping babyface act seemed on point. Alas they only showed 3 minutes of this but it's 3 minutes worth seeing. There was also a Michinoku Pro tag on this card and that's just annoying that we don't have that.

Yuki Ishikawa & Shoichi Funaki vs Daisuke Ikeda & Katsumi Usuda, BattlARTS 1/13/1996

The first BattlARTS event concludes with a big tag. BattlARTS tags are one of the greatest inventions of wrestling as you basically always get just 4 guys in a fight to the death, and they already had all the ingredients down here. Ishikawa and Ikeda went out of their way here to establish their rivalry, just absolutely cracking each other with every shot. Kicks to the ribs, stomps drawing hardway blood, bare knuckle punches, there's no comparing these two. Usuda wasn't far behind as he was trying to kick peoples heads off. Besides the violence there was a ton of great matwork and suplexes here. Really great competitive shootstyle with lots of ankle spraining leg locks. Dug Funaki as a guy with limited options just trying to twist peoples legs off. Usuda looked like a killer, and he is also really great at putting submissions over as dangerous. Ikeda and Ishikawa also did some great wrestling against each other, though by the end you had a pissed off Ishikawa trying to stump a mudhole in Ikeda and drawing hardway blood, and Ikeda trying to pulverize people with spin kicks. The insertion of Funakis pro-style moves worked and made for a unique touch that would become the defining characteristic of BattlARTS that set it apart from other wrestling. Not much more needs to be said, just really raw pro wrestling that rules and made you want to see more.

4/6/1996

Takeshi Ono vs. Yuki Ishikawa, BattlARTS 4/6/1996 - FUN

This is from that weird psychedelic background studio TV show they ran. This was these guys going at each other for 5 minutes, and these two are going to give you something good when given 5 minutes. Mostly Ono being pesky, trying to outgrapple Ishikawa and absorbing his size advantage. Though Ono does connect with a brutal face kick at one point because he is Ono. Sick finish where Ishikawa reverses an Ono leg lock and just tries to rip his foot off. Good stuff but gee, 2 or 3 minutes more of this couldn‘t have hurt. 

Carl Malenko vs Satoshi Yoneyama, 4/6

Yoneyama continues to have a hard time. He's tall but he doesn't have much grappling, so Carl is very much like an anaconda playing with its food here, twirling him around and locking in carny full nelson holds and what not. Yoneyama does get a sleeper that forces Carl to the ropes and immediately goes for his koppu kick rushing, but Carl is not impressed and after some more scrambling Yoneyama is toast. I always enjoy watching Carl tear people apart and the finish was great with Carl locking in a full nelson STF and then just choking him out.

Katsumi Usuda vs Alexander Otsuka, 4/6

Good solid shootstyle grappling here as you expect. Otsuka is always great to watch as he will grapple the fuck out of someone and bust out crazy suplexes. That was the case here too as Otsuka hit Usuda with a super iconic deadlift German with a great camera angle. Usuda fired back with some sick kicks and choking out Otsuka in nasty fashion. These two would have bigger matches later in their career but this was a good appetizer and you can tell everyone in this company was showcasing their own unique style.

Daisuke Ikeda vs Shoichi Funaki, 4/6

Funaki is outgunned here, but he does one hell of a job trying to get a submission. This may have been among Funakis best performances as he looked great doing slick shootstyle matwork, busting out nifty counters and trying to twist Ikedas legs off. Ikeda found himself frustrated and then already going to his vicious prick ways trying to scrub Funakis face off the bone with vicious grinding forearms etc. Great finish as Funaki goes for the leg attack to often and Ikedas came down on him like the hammer of destiny and then Fight for Your Right to Party blares. 

4/13+4/14/1996

Yuki Ishikawa vs Carl Greco, 4/13

This was apparently from the first 'official' BattlARTS show as everything before was considered 'pre-debut'. A bit regretful that this is the only match we get from that card because everything else also looked good. Regardless of that this is good stuff. These two have been consistent rivals beginning in PWFG and now continueing that through BattlARTS up until their 2008 masterpiece. They pretty much never disappoint and this is another banger match that delivers. Carl always works in pushing people through the limit and producing some killer matwork. He was also quite aggressive really rattling Yuki with face kicks. Maybe Yuki could've gone a bit more all out in this one but in the end he was overwhelmed. Intense shootstyle main event with a sick finish.

TAKA Michinoku vs Minoru Tanaka, 4/14

These two also fought each other many maaany times. It's always a good match up but from my memory it has never produced something blowaway great, maybe that'll change with this grand rewatch. This is quite good stuff, there is lots of slick competitive feeling matwork with both guys fighting hard for armbars and leglocks. Maybe it lacks variety a bit but their fighting was definitely convincing. No junior stuff here, Tanaka just unloads on TAKA with nasty kicks, suplexes and a big piledriver. TAKA annoys me a bit by trying to do some hockey no selling though it's quickly shut down. He gets on my good side catching a kick from Tanaka and turning it into a nifty shootstyle Michinoku Driver II. He goes for another but Tanaka reverses it into a leglock for a nifty finish. Pretty good, Tanaka was putting more violence in his kicks than I remember from other matches, and it  does not overstay it's welcome at 10 minutes length.

Yuki Ishikawa & Katsumi Usuda vs Carl Malenko & Daisuke Ikeda, 4/14

Big fan of this tag which is full of banger matchups. Ikeda and Ishikawa avoided each other early on, so we get more focussed shootstyle action which was quite great, especially when Carl was involved as he's such a relentless grappler. Also a big fan of Usuda who's really good as someone constantly trying to finish opponents either with his kicks or straightforward submissions. Ikeda started to turn up the violence later by being a vicious prick and we get a pretty intense explosion between him and Ishikawa. Highlight was probably Ishikawa stomping the crap out of Ikeda, Steve Austin style, or his northern lights suplex into some pretty brutal ground and pound. Ishikawa eyeing Ikeda only to get blasted by same brutal kicks from Carl to his face may be quintessential BattlARTS. Finish was pretty intense as guys were going for the kill, and while it was not as fireworks-ladden as other BattlARTS ending runs Usudas relentless barrage that KO'd Ikeda was as memorable as any finish. This was just straight forward good shit, hardly ever a let down when you put 4 of these guys in a tag.

The Library

2022 MOTY Project Update #1

 Hitamaru Sasaki & Kodai Nozaki vs. Minoru Tanaka & Soma Watanabe, Kyushu Pro 4/23/2022

Once again, Kyushu Pro produces a really fun shootstyle match. This was all about my boy Kodai Nozaki who has the thickest legs in the world and is a machine here with his vader hammers and big throws. He really forces the GLEAT boys to get competitive, and he can grapple too. I love that his scarf hold is a credible nearfall simply because Nozaki is so massive. Sasaki did some slick grappling in the first half. This is all about the last 4 minutes or so, though. Watanabe showed good instinct going for Nozakis leg, but Nozai caught him and then proceeded to absolutely nuke him like it was a BattlARTS match. Awesome stuff. Tanaka is the blandest wrestler of all time doing the same stuff for the last 25 years, but he was okay here and got out of the way when Sasaki and Watanabe did a hot finish. Good shit and my man Nozaki deserves more.

Masahiro Takanashi vs. Chon Shiryu, Choco Pro 1/22/2022

I'll start by talking about the problems with this match. It was a bit silly, a bit too long, and there was some sloppiness mostly caused by them wrestling on this pillow mat where you probably don't have good footing. Aside from all that, it was a really good match and another case for Takanashi being the one good big match worker in Japan. Starts with some nice grappling, but they soon move to the meat of the match. Takanashis vicious matwork vs. Shiryus awesome Jackie Chan moves. Shiryu really knew how to bounce around that little room and those windows. The back roll handspring through the window was just awesome and so were all the diving kicks and stomps, and the bounce of the ceiling into a reckless headbutt has to be among the most insane things I've seen in a while. Takanashis style is a mix of sadistic Fuchi leg stretches and innovative stuff that works like using the stool on the leg. As I said there is some sloppiness and the match goes a bit long, but they both sold their butts off, built really well to some big spots and kept me enthralled in the match the whole way, there was never a moment where I said "fuck this" which is quite rare for 2022 wrestling.

 

2022 MOTY List

Going through Shodates Best Matches of the 90s List Part 5

 The List

231. Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Shinjiro Ohtani vs. Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka, NJPW 10/11/1999 

This has to be among the stiffest matches I‘ve ever seen the NJPW juniors division produce. Seriously, they went out of their way to make every second of this as unpleasant as possible. Kicks, smacks, Otani facescrapes, Takaiwas level, everything was executed at maximum violence. Even something like a Takaiwa elbow drop landed with a smack. Loved the pissed off exchanges involving Otani and Kanemoto. Everyone here was catching hands, though. You know it‘s great when even Tanaka is laying it in and taking beatings. The match didn‘t have some kind of arc or story, it was just one violent exchange after another. It builds to some huge sequences before the finish, though. Takaiwa looked great pounding dudes into paste with his multiple powerbombs and death valley drivers. Greatest junior match in the Dome ever? It was certainly the loudest.

 

234. Mayumi Ozaki & Cutie Suzuki vs. Dynamite Kansai & Sumiko Saito, JWP 8/9/1992

Ah let‘s see… fast pace, hot crowd, insanely stiff, simple moves…? It‘s the early 90s baby~! Seriously pro wrestling just doesn‘t feel like this anymore and it‘s sad. This was hard working and exciting. Sumiko Saito was a rookie who didn‘t stay around for long, but she looked tenacious here. She was paired with Kansai who as usual acted as a super asskicker, so you got a match built around Kansai kicking ass when she was tagged in, and Saito getting her ass kicked when she was tagged out. As usual Ozaki looks good working against Kansai, and Cutie throws some beautiful suplexes. The stretching holds actually felt meaningful in this due to Saito fighting hard and trying to evade the rookie beatdown. Couple really good moments here. Notice how epic the superplex reversal felt due to both womens selling. This was 2 Count Rules for some reason and while it didn‘t really factor into the psychology much it made their athleticism more impressive I guess.

 

31. Yoshihisa Yamamoto vs. Georgi Kandarahki, RINGS 7/13/1993

Young Yoshihisa Yamamoto takes on Georgi Kandarahki… Kandealaki… Keandelaki..?? Ahh to hell with it! Kandarahki has boxing gloves, a singlet and boxer trunks. He looks like a basketball player decided to be a boxer. Yamamoto doesn‘t have gloves. If you can get over the silliness of that, this was pretty fun. Kandarahki throws lots of nice combinations and this had some heated moments where he came close to punching out Yamamoto who fired back with spirit. Obviously Yamamoto was gonna dominate on the ground but they do a pretty decent job making it not too obvious or drab. This went 5 rounds (OF COURSE!!!) and didn‘t drag and was pretty fun overall. So… the 31.th best match of all of the 90s? Probably not but I enjoyed discovering this for Yamamotos fire and Kandarahkis cool punches.

RINGS 10/14/1997

 Minoru Tanaka vs. Sanae Kikuta

Sanae Kikuta was in RINGS?! Oh, apparently this was his sole appearance. Fun match do Kikuta grappling the fuck out of Tanaka, so it was better than Tanakas usual match. Kikuta tapped him pretty quickly too.

Alexander Otsuka vs. Chris Haseman

This was awesome. They actually made Otsuka wear kickpads for this. Haseman is a big beastly dude. He throws really fast savate kicks, and is pretty aggressive and uncooperative on the mat. Otsuka doesn‘t really wrestle like his BattlARTS self here and you get to see him throw some strikes he normally wouldn‘t. He really connects hard with some palm strikes and even a big thai knee, but Haseman splits his brow open. It builds to a pretty great second half with some great heated slugging it out and fighting to the ropes. The finish is totally awesome as Otsuka escapes a number of shoulder discolating arm holds from Haseman and cranks in an armlock of his own. Haseman makes the ropes but can‘t get up. It feels like Otsuka took on a monster here, and he broke that monster.

Wataru Sakata vs. Dominic Delaney

I assume Delaney is a kickboxer. He can throw kicks and hands but on the ground he has to go for the ropes pretty much immediately.

Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Elvis Sinosic

Yes, Tamura vs. A soviet shooter named Elvis! This started out fun. Elvis was this lanky guy who could grapple. Then Tamura decided to stand up and brutalize Elvis. Just tagging him hard with low kicks and open hands over and over again. That seemed like a 5 minute section of just Tamura circling around this guy and hitting him hard. Then Elvis makes a move and accidentally eye pokes Tamura. Tamura then takes him down and just ends the match cranking an armlock. Guess Elvis did something Tamura didn‘t like there.

Masayuki Naruse vs. Willie Peeters

Stiff non-cooperative looking shootstyle. Peeters works this like a great amateur wrestler who knows only one submission hold. He completely dominated Naruse on the ground and countered all his takedown attempts, but when Naruse rolled on his back Peeters would let him stand up. Naruse even gets a bloody nose and bloody lip from a failed takedown attempt. I liked Peeters immediately palm striking him in the mouth and then locking in a nasty facelock. Naruse keeps shooting for takedowns that always get reversed, and really has nothing on Peeters here. The camera keeps cutting at Maeda in the crowd and I‘m sure he would kick Naruses ass backstage. This was great when Naruse got fired up and laid into Peeters with strikes, but that was like 30 seconds of the whole thing. Naruse, why did keep going for those takedowns? You should‘ve realized you had no chance with them after he sprawled on the first 20. They also kept stopping the match due to the blood until they finally stop it at 17 minutes while Peeters never once looked in trouble. I enjoyed this, especially the sprawl show from Peeters, but it could‘ve been so much more.

THE LIBRARY

Takeshi Ono Documentation Project #11

 

Takeshi Ono & Masao Orihara vs. Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Tanaka, BattlARTS 10/19/1997 - GREAT

It‘s the first time Ono and Orihara team up! And, what the hell – this was really good! It wasn‘t really a BattlARTS match and more of an indy tag with the stiffness upgraded to BattlARTS level stiffness and more fierce submissions – so what, that‘s a really good kind of match! And everyone here was super fired up. Tanaka was unusually stiff and trying to take down Orihara, and Hidaka fawas really good in his usual spunky young guy role. It was nice to see Hidaka had graduated from getting squashed by Ono in under 5 minutes to actually being a threat and even upsetting Orihara a few times. All the Hidaka/Ono sections were really fun, and of course Orihara is a sleaze good in this. Doing dickish kip ups, spitting on people, kicking them in the face, hitting gnarly powerbombs. It builds to a bigger finishing run than you‘d expect from a midcard(?) match, too. Really good shit and exactly what you want.

Takeshi Ono & Masao Orihara vs. Katsumi Usuda & Tatsuo Nakano, BattlARTS 11/25/1997 - GREAT

What a matchup. This was also pretty great. Two stoic shooters vs. A pair of absolute fuckers. The Tonpachi Machine Gun assault tactics were in full bloom here. The just swarmed all over Usuda and Nakano. Nakano looked damn great here as a tough old bastard teaching these punks a lesson, and Usuda had his share of gnarly moments too. There are just moments in these matches – like Usuda reversing a leglock and throwing some hard elbows to the back of Onos head – that you only really get in BattlARTS, and that is why BattlARTS rules. I also really enjoyed Nakano blowing off the attempt at a 2 on 1 and just beating Oriharas ass on the floor. Orihara was spectacular as usual, spitting on Nakano, running in to kick dudes in the face and then in the balls. Ono hadn‘t fully embraced his ratboy ways here, but he had some quality stiff exchanges against Nakano and Usuda. There was a constant feel that the Guns were outskilled and had to use their cheating in order to stay in the match, which made the whole thing really damn entertaining. Ono also had one of the hardest Russian Leg Sweeps in history on Usuda. Great finish where Orihara runs in like he had done so many times before only to catch some serious hands from Nakano while Usuda sinks in the choke on Ono.

Takeshi Ono & Masao Orihara vs. Minoru Tanaka & Alexander Otsuka, BattlARTS 11/29/1997 - GREAT

Another very good match, although it was much less heavy on cheating tactics from Ono and Orihara. There was still some serious fuckery going on, especially from Orihara, but most of this was straight wrestling. Orihara/Tanaka is always a quality match up, and we get some nice slick grappling sections between Otsuka and Ono. The match up turns up a notch when Otsuka drops Ono with an absolutely sick brainbuster – lord knows, Otsuka really tried to kill Ono all the time – and it moves into a pretty great brief ending run with Otsuka launching Ono across the ring with suplexes and Ono desperately trying to not get his neck broken. 

TAKESHI ONO DOCUMENTATION MASTER LIST

2002 MOTY List Update #10

 Negro Navarro & Shu El Guerrero vs. Solar & Skayde (AULL 11/1/2002)

Nothing better than a lucha match that starts with about 17 minutes of straight matwork that the crowd eats up. This is one of the earlier Navarro/Solar matchups and what they did here was pretty different from what they would do later, altough it was all great. This is also one of the better Skayde showings I've seen as him rolling with Shu is much more interesting than him rolling with one of his skinny trainees. Shu is just so physical, he does this thing where he goes on all fours or tailor seat and dares the other guy to move him. So Skayde puts a nasty toehold on him before going for a rolling stretch. Really really neat stuff that feels competitive. The later portions that had Shu throwing dropkicks and flying clothesines were also pretty great. Shu also hits a really great senton really squishing Skayde underneath, and locks in a nasty arm triangle with the arm trapped. Then Skayde would torture him further by putting all kinds of leglocks on him. The submissions and pins also work as near falls. Finish is between Solar and Navarro and suitably good. This is really a borderline classic, 20+ of high quality technical lucha at it's finest.

Bas Rutten vs. Osamu Nishimura (NJPW 10/14/2002)

One of the more unique matches in wrestling history, it's a kickpadded uncooperative modern day shooter vs. A classy early 70s technician. Rutten was great at pro wrestling no doubt about it, his selling of Nishimuras holds was great (did a better job there than most trained pro wrestlers) and he was basically threatening to KO Nish every single round. Rutten not holding back at all is a big part of why the match worked. Nishimura ruled as usual believably locking Rutten into his old school carny holds or dishing out the european uppercuts. I think this may have been better without the rounds but it had typical european build closer to a german style match (Nishimura spent a lot of time in germany and austria) than british as it had that simmering animosity. Nishimura slowly getting destroyed but getting in Ruttens head was really cool. By the last round they completely ditched the striking and just stubbornly went for the tap out.

Jushin Liger & Minoru Tanaka vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinob Kanemaru (NOAH 4/7/2002)

NOAH vs. NJ part two. Everyone is on fire! Liger is a no selling douche! Kikuchi is a mad old bugger who will take a chunk out of you without blinking! Clever nutshot spots! Mask ripping! Submissions are important! This match did a great job milking and amplifying the heat of the feud. Lean and strong pace with an emphasis on masks ripped open and nasty elbows from mount, this is the direction japanese wrestling should've kept going. Watch the backstage footage too! 

Shinya Hashimoto & Naoya Ogawa vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Scott Norton (NJPW 5/2/2002)

This is one of those feel good matches you can just back and enjoy every second of it. Basically Hashimoto & Ogawa waltz in and just destroy everything in their path. STOs, nasty kicks and chops and various cool combination moves abound. Norton & Tenzan don‘t stand much of a chance but they try. You get a great little Norton performance as he sells all the nasty chops and kicks he takes to his shoulder in a big way. There is an art to selling in such a way that everyone can emphatize with you even when you‘re a giant muscled up dude like Norton and he had it down. Tenzan also doesn‘t suck! 

 

2002 MOTY MASTER LIST

Going through Shodates Best Matches of the 90s List Part 1

 I was a fan of Shodates original PWO message board run. Troll or not, his lists were refreshing and a much needed shot in the arm for dying message board culture, and I'm having fun going through his sometimes baffling, sometimes spot-on match recommendations.

The List

87. Minoru Tanaka vs. Satoshi Yoneyama (BattlARTS 1/13/1996)

BattlARTS begins. And the world would never be the same! I probably would've skipped this, but Mr. Shaw Dahtay rated this as the 87^th best match of the 90s. Will that is probably a weeeee bit too high, it's a fun little squash. Basically Yoneyama is useless on the mat so Tanaka uses him as a punching bag and dumps him with impressive suplexes. Normally I dread watching Tanaka but he he looked like a prick here and really roughed up Yoneyama with brutal knees and shotais, so that was refreshing. Yoneyama gets pretty fired up flurry hitting his abisegiri (his one good spot) but is soon put to pasture. Short, violent, kind of out of nowhere, a fitting beginning to the promotion.

86. Minoru Tanaka vs. Shoichi Funaki (BattlARTS 10/4/1996)

Rated the 86^th best match of the entire 1990s by our man Shouda Tey. This is one of the more baffling choices, as it's a short outburst from Tanaka, before Funaki takes over with a bunch of leg submissions only to get tapped out by a surprise armbar. Effective formula and everything looked good particulary the opening near KO but there was just not a lot of meat to it and Funakis leglocks weren't super interesting.

95. Minoru Tanaka vs. Shoichi Funaki (PWFG 2/28/1994)

The 95^th greatest match of the 1990s as rated by Sh'oh D'Atay. This was a lot better to me than their match 2 years later, but what do I know? This is very much a PWFG undercard match but they show more spirit than probably during their entire BattlARTS run. They really work for the submissions and there are some great leg grabs and chokes. Tanaka hits a plausible shootstyle dropkick and drills Funaki for a near fall with a big judo throw. Watching them here is so different from the soft uninspired matwork they'd do later. Nifty finish. Really more of a unique snapshot of what could have been, as I could see these guys having a really great match if they kept working like this, but it's a cool match.

245. Akira Hokuto & Toshie Uematsu vs. Kyoko Ichiki & KAORU, GAEA 1/19/1997

This was #245 on our friend shodate's list of the Top 250 90s matches. Good thing because otherwise I probably would've never watched this. This was fantastic and instantly became one of my favourite joshi matches of the year. Lots of cool uncooperative exchanges throughout, and the match told a good story. You had Hokuto being two classes above both opponents (and making that very clear), Uematsu refusing to back down and wrestling a class above hers, and Kaoru and Ichiki trying everything to gain the advantage and topple their opponents. There were some basic spots such as biting, stomping eye rake or hair pulling toss which felt really violent here. There was also plenty of awesome receipt spots, especially whenever Hokuto felt disrespected, she would step up and show who's boss usually by booting someone in the face. There was also plenty of head droppin death moves and crushing diving attacks. Despite that the match didn't feel like overkill and ended at just the perfect spot. Little weak transitions here maybe, but yeah all things considered I enjoyed the hell out of this.

2002 MOTY List Update #6

Low Ki vs. Bryan Danielson (RoH  3/30/2002)

  Not as great as the JAPW match, but still insanely tightly worked, stiff pro wrestling that blows away all the current wannabe shooters (and everyone else too). They mostly struggle over holds while pounding the daylights out of eachother. Kis stiffness was just crazy as he would rough up Danielsons already bruised face with out of nowhere kicks. At one point he just grabbed Bryans head and went loose with Kawada kicks sending him to the outside. Most of this match was both guys fighting over holds or working eachother over with stiff kicks and chops. Ki blocking a Dragon Suplex only to be thrown with a back suplex was like something out of 80s NJPW. I also loved how Ki, after choking the air out of Danielsons lung would immediately follow up with double stomps to the stomach. Unfortunately Danielson made an easy comeback soon after that and the finishing stretch was not as great as the body of the match as they mostly stick to throwing big old bombs back and forth for like 10 minutes. Still, match felt like a classic in large parts. 

Jushin Liger & Minoru Tanaka vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (NOAH 4/7/2002)

NOAH vs. NJ part two. Everyone is on fire! Liger is a no selling douche! Kikuchi is a mad old bugger who will take a chunk out of you without blinking! Clever nutshot spots! Mask ripping! Submissions are important! This match did a great job milking and amplifying the heat of the feud. Lean and strong pace with an emphasis on masks ripped open and nasty elbows from mount, this is the direction japanese wrestling should've kept going. Watch the backstage footage too! 

Shinya Hashimoto & Naoya Ogawa vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Scott Norton (NJPW 5/2/2002)

  This is one of those feel good matches you can just back and enjoy every second of it. Basically Hashimoto & Ogawa waltz in and just destroy everything in their path. STOs, nasty kicks and chops and various cool combination moves abound. Norton & Tenzan don‘t stand much of a chance but they try. You get a great little Norton performance as he sells all the nasty chops and kicks he takes to his shoulder in a big way. There is an art to selling in such a way that everyone can emphatize with you even when you‘re a giant muscled up dude like Norton and he had it down. Tenzan also doesn‘t suck! 

Antifaz/La Fiera/Safari vs. Averno/Mephisto/Zumbido (CMLL 1/11/2002)

his was given plenty of time. Cool 10 minute opening fall with Safari looking especially slick, nice rudo beatdown with plenty of elaborate double times and some more heated than usual exchanges between Safari and Mephisto, culminating in Safari hitting a sick dive that Mephisto failed to catch properly, which only increased the intensity. The main reason I'm adding this though was La Fieras awesome performance. I didn't know he was even still around by 2002, but he looked like he had aged just right here. Basically acting like Tenryu, working as "I've been doing this for 30 years and I'm hurting in place I didn't even know existed, but I'm still gonna kick the shit out of you". He hits all these graceful kicks and takes some big bumps. Finish was charming and the crowd went wild for it.

 2002 MOTY Project MASTER LIST