Takeshi Ono Documentation Project #23

 Takeshi Ono vs. Ryuji Hijikata, BattlARTS 4/17/2001 - FUN

Their shortest encounter as it‘s JIP so it‘s just 4 minutes. Hijikata took most of what was shown so we get to see Onos really good selling and bumping, he‘s really good taking hits and just barely keeping himself up while getting into position for the next move. Hijikatas kicks and hold were good and Ono beat him easily but decisively so it was a good win.

 

 

Takeshi Ono vs. Osamu Tachihikari, BattlARTS 11/26/2000 – GREAT

How great was Ono in 2000? Great enough to get a honest to god great match out of Tachihikari, who may be among the most useless guys in the history of Japanese wrestling. Think of what an achievement that is. But Ono is totally awesome here as he beats the shit out of that big sad goof and sets himself up for Tachihikaris offense in awesome ways. Working some great counters, challing him to a sumo faceoff only to slip right into an awesome Octopus Hold, hitting a slick dive, big damn punch combos, all while he was selling and eating the fuck out of Tachihikaris clumsy offense. Coming up glassy eyed after getting suplexed, turning into a noodle for Osamus clumsy lariat, the crowd go from laughing at Tachihikari to being on fire for the nearfalls that they were working. Tachihikari does one cool thing in this match and that is palming Ono in the face pretty hard. Still, if Ono could have a match this good with Tachihikari, there’s truely no limit to what the man could do.

 

Takeshi Ono & Ryuichi Sekine vs. Brahman Shu & Brahman Kei, FUTEN 6/27/2010 - GREAT

Great undercard action, this kind of thing made FUTEN so good. Everyone just goes hard, all killer no filler, each exchange had a cool touch. Brahmans were pretty great undercard wrestlers at this point, they had no problem doing cool matwork, hitting hard an busting out unpredictable things. Sekine stuck to his underdog role and kept things nice and basic, with a good sense of aggression. ONO was of course the king of this match. He just goes for the kill all of the time, like as soon as an opponent was slightly prone he would go for a headkick. He was at his best here whenever he tagged in to punch people in the face, knee them in the head or lock in slick Octopus Holds. Still the match was quite heavy on the Brahmans and Sekine, which is not a bad thing, it just stood slightly in the way of another truly epic Ono performance, although this was just a mid card match. But for that it was excellent and would pretty much rock MOTY lists now.

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Assorted 2003 AJPW

 Yuki Ishikawa & Tomoaki Honma vs. Ryuji Hijikata & Shigeo Okumura, AJPW 2/16/2003

This has to be one of the most criminal examples of clipping I‘ve ever seen of a Japanese match. We get 10 minutes of a 20 minute draw, but what we get is completely awesome. Ishikawa vs. Hijikata was as brutal as you expect, but the Okumura/Honma WAR sections completely blew me away. I should probably check out more Okumura from this time period as he looked awesome mauling Honma with WAR-like slaps and elbows. Okumura was in crush mode and it ruled. Honma kicking him in the back of the neck was the kind of unprofessional violence you want from a random Japanese undercard tag. Where‘s the rest of this, GAORA TV?

 

 Rikiya Fudo & Hideki Hosaka vs. Kohei Sato & Hirotaka Yokoi, AJPW 7/19/2003

This is one for the enjoyers of FUDO. Sato and Yokoi have absolutely no heat with the AJPW crowd at this point, but they can throw some fun punches and head kicks, and Fudo is great mauling them. He is way less fat in 2003 than 2022 but he still looks convincing crushing much bigger guys. He was a lot faster too so his lariats and jumping kicks really hit the shooters like a train, just trying to take peoples heads off. Hosaka is average but he doesn't suck and you have to admire how he tried to polish his look for his big AJPW run with some really nice tights, a cool belt and slicked back black hair.

Kohei Sato & Hirotaka Yokoi vs. Tomoaki Honma & Kazushi Miyamoto, AJPW 7/19/2003

Tumeric Storm, what a team! Coming into this the ring is already covered in Honmas blood from the previous match, and immediately Honma gets busted again and bleeds like crazy. Talk about loving the taste of your own blood. Yokoi and Sato finally get over with the AJPW fans by being nasty pricks kicking and punching a bloody Honma in the face, and Honma is a really great underdog. Especially loved all the bits where Sato kicked Honma in the skull really hard. Miyamoto is perfectly good as an athletic guy who tags in quick to hit some snappy offense and Honmas underdog performance is impeccable as always.

Nobutaka Araya vs. Arashi, AJPW 7/13/2003

How do you get a good match out of Arashi in 2003? By making it really short, really bloody, and chock full of violent strikes of course! Araya rules so hard here, busting a toolbox over Arashis head and then bleeding like crazy and eating really vicious strikes. Those jaw punches were awesome and sick. Arashi is pretty good as a phlegmatic Tenryu here destroying Araya with brutal punches and face kicks. He even surprised me by almost crushing Arayas face with a crazy fat guy dropkick. If you want to watch two fat ex sumos bleed and destroy each other for 5 minutes check this out.

Takeshi Ono Documentation Project #21

 

Takeshi Ono & Super Crazy vs. Great Sasuke & Ryuji Hijikata, BattlARTS 4/13/2001 - FUN

This was BattlARTS style mixed with ECW style plunder and high flying. Basically Ono and Hijikata did their usual sections kicking and punching each other hard and Sasuke and Crazy did high flying and hitting each other with plunder. It was a bit more of a novelty match than something crazy and unpredictable. Ono didn‘t really interact with the plunder aside from one moment where he tackled Hijikata into a bunch of chairs which was cool. Hijikata looked good as he usually does opposite Ono and there were a few amusing dives from Sasuke and Crazy. Not crazy enough to move into GREAT territory but it was a fun match.

Takeshi Ono vs. Mohammed Yone, BattlARTS 3/31/2001 - FUN

This was grappling only. Yone is bigger but Ono completely dominates him and armbars him in like 90 seconds. A cool little scramble and nice to see Ono picking up a win.

 

Takeshi Ono vs. Great Sasuke, BattlARTS 5/10/2001 - GREAT

Onos biggest singles match of the year! This was pretty great as Sasuke basically flips-flops into Onos fist a bunch and Ono has a bunch of cool ways to prevent Sasukes high spots and entangle him into submissions. Ono constantly working over Sasuke with stiff punches and kicks was also great. Sasuke was already starting to loose his mind here and he busts out his crazy tope to the apron. GREAT finish, too. One of the smartest junior matches of the decade, honestly.

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Takeshi Ono Documentation #20

Takeshi Ono & Ryuji Hijikata vs. junji.com & Urban Ken, BattlARTS 9/7/2000 - GREAT

 BattlARTS undercard tags then were a thing of beauty, and this was another real goodie. A bunch of juniors who aren't really stereotypically shoot stylists or juniors thrown together to do indy wrestling with that solid BattlARTS style groundwork. I enjoyed all these guys building up a solid match from the ground, and Ono as usual stood out above everyone hitting a bit stiffer punches and kicks and doing submissions a bit slicker and nastier than everyone else. It really picks up for the second half in a big way as you get junji and Ken running wild, junjis Animal Hamaguchi moveset feels really fresh, he busts out a choice Samoan Drop into a nasty kimura and then hits these really cool falling headbutts to the shoulder. They go bigger than you expect from an undercard tag as Ken and Ono look awesome, Ono doing his usual ultra slick reversals and strikes and Ken hitting awesome tackle moves, his style is really fun. Honestly felt like a great discovery thanks to everyone putting their working boots on and looking their best for that ending run.

 

Takeshi Ono & Takahiro Oba vs. Manabu Hara & Kengo Mashimo, FUTEN 5/30/2010 - EPIC

Super violent high end FUTEN main event tag. 4 crazy guys trying to batter each other to death with rotten kicks and wild swinging hands. It's a testament to Onos ability that he still looks super dangerous in a match where no one is holding back, he was trying to crush peoples faces with kicks and knees the whole time. Hara and Mashimo kind of form an asskicking force together, Mashimo is really solid in his usual role as a ratty thick guy who will beat you. Hara may have had the night of his life here as he was beating on people like he meant to kill them and locking in slick submissions. While there isn't a ton of matwork I really enjoyed the couple brief sections mostly starring Oba. Oba honestly looked pretty great here as well as his violent clubs and caveman strength spots are so unique, honestly he is another reason why we need the whole FUTEN back catalogue. Obas reckless attacks were interesting throughout without veering into goofy territory and there were some well inserted more pro style spots in. Finishing run was Ono vs. Hara and may have been one of the best ending runs ever done in this style, Hara was brutalizing Ono who kept evading and coming back to plant a knee in his face or just punch his jaw out. 20 minutes of awesome and one of the more mindblowing FUTEN matches of the year.

Takeshi Ono Documentation Project

Takeshi Ono Documentation Project #19

 Takeshi Ono vs. Alexander Otsuka, BattlARTS 8/29/1999 - FUN

Only 3 or 4 minutes where shown here, but every second was great. Otsuka at this time was experimenting with pro style moves a lot, and he was working Ono like a Power Plant guy using a grappling dummy here, just ragdolling him around. There were a few great moments, such as Onos rolling leglock, and Otsuka scrambling over Onos low blow and dumping him with a big suplex that Ono desperately tried to counter. Of course, we get a big Giant Swing spot where Otsuka just launches Ono across the ring like a cartoon character. Finish was totally great with Ono scrambling out of a Dragon Suplex and locking in a slick armbar. Crowd went nuts for Ono tapping out Otsuka and rightfully so.

Takeshi Ono & Mohammed Yone vs. Katsumi Usuda & Daisuke Ikeda, BattlARTS 9/23/1999 - FUN

Exciting looking match, but we only get the second half. Good stiff BattlARTS action. Yone was tolerable as he was there to eat brutal kicks and lariats from Usuda and Ikeda. It‘s always stunning how good Usuda looks even in short clips. His backhands are awesome. The finish was Ono vs. Ikeda and it was some great bomb throwing and counters. Another great finish with Ono scrambling out of Ikedas Death Valley Driver and into another neat lucha rollup turned armbar. Seems Ono was raking in some big surprise wins towards the end of 1999 but it didn‘t seem to go anywhere.

Takeshi Ono vs. Ryuji Hijikata, BattlARTS 12/25/1999 - GREAT

One of the few Ono matches that year to even air in full, and it‘s a great one. Mostly just Ono being a freak, putting on slick submissions on Hijikata, busting out neat counters and punching and kicking him in the face. A lot of Onos stuff could easily be stolen in a pro style context, it just looks so good and makes sense. Hijikata was green-ish but he could strike back when it counted. Loved Ono struggling against Hijikatas Fisherman Suplex. Well executed finish. This hit all the marks in 9 minutes and was just a great opener.

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Takeshi Ono Documentation Project #18

 Takeshi Ono & Daisuke Ikeda vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Alexander Otsuka, Michinoku Pro 1/14/1997 - EPIC

These matches were the BattlARTS guys show up on random Michinoku Pro cards to scare the fans with their violence are always awesome and this was no exception. There were some pretty high end shootstyle exchanges here, Onos slick grappling and Otsukas wrestling stood out, but they uncorked some heinous violence too. Ikeda and Ono did their thing, throwing Otsuka to the floor where the would send him into the rows street fighting kicks. At one point Ikeda was unloading bare knuckle fists left and right to Otsukas face, who could only try to buckle him to the ropes and go for a suplex (as Otsuka does). Great moment where Ishikawa connected a headbutt to the back of Ikedas head to help Otsuka land a suplex. Ono looked fierce again throwing punches, kicks, and getting ragdolled by Otsuka throws. Ishikawa wasn't in the match a ton but rest assured he and Ikeda had their moments punching each in hurty fashion. Finish was pretty brutal too as an Ono kick almost turns Otsukas lights out. He barely gets to his feet only to eat a brutal Ikeda lariat right to his face followed by an absolute slaughter of a kick combo. Otsuka is dead and Ishikawa has a go at Ikeda after the bell. Classy stuff.

Takeshi Ono & Masao Orihara vs. Mamoru Okamoto & Ryuji Hijikata, BattlARTS 5/10/1998 - FUN

Dominant showing from the Tonpachi Machine Guns. They just kicked ass and made their opponents eat shit. While Ono was fully embracing Oriharas scumminess at this point, he was still lighting up people with some spectacular kicks and submissions. Okamoto and Hijikata ate lots of painful looking kicks and knees in this. Kind of liked Okamoto who's an FMW guy trying hard to pass as a BattlARTS dude, kind of the Fake Ikeda to Hisakatsu Oyas Fake Ishikawa. He had a nice German and nice kicks. Other than and a nice moment where he and Hijikata hit a train of double stomps on Orihara this was kind of a squash. I enjoy the Tonpachi Machine Guns show so I enjoyed this.

TAKESHI ONO DOCUMENTATION PROJECT

Takeshi Ono Documentation Project #16

 

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.

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.

Takeshi Ono vs. Ryuji Hijikata, BattlARTS 3/1/2001 - GREAT

Hijikata always has better matches against Ono than anyone else, and this was no exception. They settle out for a really stiff undercard brawl. Hijikata was really laying in his lariats and kicks, and Ono was firing back hard trying to kick his head off and doing slick submission grabs. No trained monkey show for sure. Hijikata is limited but the match ends up being great anyways due to Onos selling and aggression. There was one exchange where Ono ate a lariat to the face and sold it in a real jump out of your seat way. Pretty great 7 minutes.

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Takeshi Ono Documentation Project #14

 

Takeshi Ono vs. Ryuji Hijikata, Futen 10/24/2010 - EPIC

Cool matchup due to both guys feuding in BattlARTS undercard matches 10 years earlier. Hijikata went to All Japan and got kinda rotten there, but that is no problem for Ono who carries him to his career match. Opening minutes were just great as Ono demolished Hijikata with superior striking and some beautiful submission attempts. It was almost starting to look like a squash until Hijikata got it together and decided to fire back. His suplex no sell was pretty cringy (he didn‘t even do a goofy yell) but other than that, he was willing to get hit by Ono and fired back with some big shots of his own, including a big knee right under Onos chin and a deadlift brainbuster, all of which Ono sells great. Slick finish. Not an epic match, but an epic performance from our man Takeshi Ono.

Takeshi Ono & Ikuto Hidaka vs. Ryuji Hijikata & Minoru Fujita, BattlARTS 1/30/2000 - FUN

This was basically a juniors match with the addition of Takeshi Ono punching people in the face. Him vs. Fujita was a really fun match up and I‘m sure they had a great match on a BJW house show one time or something. I also enjoyed Hidaka and Fujita facewashing each other since the apparently had broken up their tag team. Some big dives, including one from Ono. This was perfectly watchable popcorn wrestling plus face punches.

Takeshi Ono vs. Ryuji Hijikata, BattlARTS 2/13/2000 - FUN

JIP match. This full on pro style. There were the usual cool Ono counters and technical moves, plus he just blasted Hijikata with a straight right coming from the ropes and that rules. Hijikata didn‘t show much, didn‘t even throw any stiff kicks, just a nice lariat at one point. Full BattlARTS worldwide point thanks to the Ono factor though.

Takeshi Ono vs. Katsumi Usuda, BattlARTS 1/28/2001 - FUN

This was a Grappling Only match that delivered 8 minutes of slick grappling. I enjoyed it a lot. Dug all the leglock trickery, Ono using his judo and generally containing the bigger Usuda. Crafty finish. Strictly for the grappling purists, but it was really good grappling.

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GWE Watching #3: Kazunari Murakami

Kazunari Murakami & Yuki Ishikawa vs. Alexander Otsuka & Ryuji Hijikata, BattlARTS 9/23/1999

 This Murakamis BattlARTS debut and his 5th(!!!) match ever. Talk about being a natural. Murakami mostly does straight shootstyle exchanges with Otsuka here, which are great. Murakami is really aggressive and Otsuka is of course really great at trying to dive past the striking range and going for a suplex. Hijikata was fired up and had one of his better outings ever. Him and Ishikawa mauling each other was some prime BattlARTS psycho material going on. At one point Hijikat went for mount and Ishikawa just punched him in the jaw like it was bare knuckle MMA. Hijikata also nearly dislocated Murakamis arm with a nasty flash armbar. Finish saw Ishikawa just obliterating him with possibly the stiffest enzuigiri I‘ve ever seen. Another pretty great BattlARTS tag. 

 

Yuki Ishikawa & Mohammed Yone vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Kazunari Murakami, BattlARTS 11/9/1999 

Murakamis influence is felt strongly here. He wasn‘t yet the mugging demon, but he was morphing into it, and he brought a hell of a lot of fire. The opening minutes were just a wild old fight. You know things are heated when even Yone is bringing it! Murakami was the focus, but Ikeda came in and reminded everyone who he is by having an insanely violent exchange with Ishikawa. I love Murakami busting out the judo throws. He was a worthy stand in for Ono as Ikedas gloved partner. It builds to a pretty extended an excellent finishing run. Highlights include some sickening muscle busters and Ikeda nearly putting Yones lights out with a chokehold. Yone seemed to be seeing stars following that. Great finish. This went 19 minutes, flew by and was just another great BattlARTS tag. 

Kazunari Murakami & Naoyuki Taira vs. Carl Greco & Yuki Ishikawa, BattlARTS 9/20/2000 

I think this is the first match where it becomes apparent just how much contempt Murakami has for Ishikawa. The match was a really good mix of straight shootstyle exchanges between Taira and Greco and wild brawling between Murakami and Ishikawa. Man, is Murakami just the greatest "aggressive wild offense" wrestler ever? Just wreaking havoc with kicks and punches on his opponents. The spill into the crowd followed by the intense faceoff was just great. Murakami is so aggressive that when they spill to the floor it actually feels like a really dangerous moment. Taira is really fun here throwing both fancy kick variations and hitting the mat. He and Greco have great chemistry. I dug the finish as it was just a series of intense mat exchanges before Greco was able to clamp on one of his special holds. They tease Murakami making the save, but he is too busy with Ishikawa to bother. Great pull apart post match. I imagine this stuff had people in 2000 salivating at the thought of a Murakami/Ishikawa singles match. 

 Kazunari Murakami & Mitsuya Nagai vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Carl Greco, BattlARTS 10/1/2000 

 This is really a lead in to the Murakami/Ishikawa singles, and what a lead in! Murakami is the Murakami we all know here. Match is all about wild assaults, evil glares, and some wrestling. Him and Ishikawa may be among the most exciting matchups in puro history. I like how Ishikawa didn‘t even wait for Murakami to ambush him and just went at him immediately. Murakamis wild striking looks great. Also, Carl Greco was really great, but you already knew that. The brief minute of grappling he and Murakami did was awesome. Nagai is solid here but thankfully Murakami hating Ishikawas guts is the focus. More post match going at each other, as it should be!

Takeshi Ono Documentation Project #9

 

Takeshi Ono & Ryuji Hijikata vs. Kengo Mashimo & Junji Tanaka (BattlARTS 11/5/2011) - GREAT

Futen crew gets together on the last BattlARTS card. Hijikata and Tanaka were solid in this, working pretty stiff, but not really BattlARTS style. Ono was on another level, however. All of his strikes were ultra vicious and when he was working over Tanakas arm he was trying to crush him. Really good if you want an 11 minute highlight reel of what makes Ono so great. The ending run is him trying to maul Tanaka with punches and kicks while Tanaka is able to make a few well timed comebacks until Ono catches him. Onos punches are so great, most wrestlers when throwing hands will throw some weak hands before a big shot, Ono however is constantly pressuring him tagging Junjis jaw and kidneys. Even when he’s working over Junjis body it looks like he’s perforating him. I’m a fan of Junji but the greatness of those exchanges is a pure testament to Ono.

Takeshi Ono vs. Masaru Toi, Rainbow, Promotion 3/21/2002 - GREAT

 Even though this went only about 7 minutes, I fought this was pretty much the perfect shooter vs. old deathmatch guy match. TakeshiOno, in what is apparently his only match that year, looked great blasting Toi with kicks and punches. Even when Toi grabbed his barbedwire bat, Ono still took him down easily. Toi going for the chairs was great. He looked to crush Onos ribcage with a stiff solebutt and then a massive kneedrop. Ono constantly refusing to let Toi get in his offense easily kept the match unpredictable. Really good little clash.

 SASUKE & Chabinger & Sasuke Performa 346 vs. Sasuke The Great & Masked Tiger & NANIWA (M.Pro  2/3/2002) - GREAT

A bunch of ninjas and sleazy masked dudes fly around in Korakuen Hall! By no means is this a great match, but it is a great bizarre indy spectacle. They bring out a bunch of ladders for this so you know what that means. Match includes: lots of preposterous Sasuke highspots (including the apron tope) and ladder-related awrygoings! Chabinger abusing everyone with his weird wooden mini table! Great Sasuke disappearing and reappearing, changing between his Great Sasuke/Sasuke the Great personae! Takeshi Ono in a mask hitting dudes with high kicks! Orihara looking good! NANIWA doesn't know how to do the Naniwa Elbow! Great Sasuke hitting some REALLY stiff kicks! Sanhshiro Takagi in a mask handing out stunners! After the match everyone sits down and they have a beer. Osamu Tachihikari comes out too. Rating: watch if you can laugh at Sasuke getting a ladder flung at his head.

 

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2002 MOTY PROJECT MASTER LIST