Assorted BattlARTS

Munenori Sawa & Yujiro Yamamoto vs Manabu Hara & SEIKEN, BattlARTS 8/21/2011

Really good scrappy match from the last days of BattlARTS. Everyone beat the shit out of each other and never backed down. Sawa cut down the goofiness, but things definitely got more serious when Yamamoto stepped in the ring. He had some intense exchanges with both Hara and SEIKEN. SEIKEN is a pretty fun character to insert into a BattlARTS match, as he doesn’t have much grappling and just tries to KO people with nasty head kicks, it makes for a cool contrast. There wasn’t a ton of grappling but Yamamoto in the brief moments did some really cool stuff. Haras brief hot tag trying to crack Sawas jaw was pretty great, too. Sawa trying to dive at Hara who was outside was pretty crazy and immediately lead to another chaotic, scrappy exchange with SEIKEN. Fun chaotic ending run with lots of stiff blows. I miss BattlARTS.

Yuki Ishikawa & Munenori Sawa vs Super Tiger II & Manabu Hara (BattlArts - 11/16/2008)

The early goings are a bit slow, tho there are a few neat moments. Hara cranks Ishikawas neck with a nasty headlock then hits him with an out of nowhere kick to the face. There's a pretty heated exchange between Sawa and STII with Sawa trying to headbutt him in the guard about 8 minutes in a flick is switched and Hara and Tiger start fucking pulverizing Sawa with brutal kicks. After that it's off to the races as they deliver a brutal beatdown on Sawa. Some breathless exchanges ensue with guys tagging each other full force, headbutts, slaps, kicks to the head. The finishing run is Super Tiger II unloading his spectacular kick arsenal on Ishikawa. STII has some crazy kicks, and he nails them all here. I also really liked the violence of Sawa and Hara trying to prevent each other from making a save. As usual with Ishikawa there are some tremendous submissions. Last 12 minutes of this or so were some of the most brutal and best BattlARTS action of the new millenium for sure.

Ikuto Hidaka vs Yuta Yoshikawa, BattlARTS 12/21/2008

Really good 10 minute match. Hidaka was hellbent on destroying Yoshikawas mid-section here, making this forever one of the greatest matches in the "matches where a guy gets his mid section destroyed" genre. Early goings were no-nonsense as Hidaka was relentless going after Yoshikawa with great looking body shots and knees, it felt like an aggressive U-Style match. When Yoshikawa takes it too the mat it actually feels like he needed to take it to the mat. Yoshikawa is low standing at this point but his brief run off offense is nice, he is able to hit a big suplex that actually feels earned and follows up blasting Hidaka with a kick. Yoshikawa punching away at Hidakas arm/shoulder was a nice touch. Hidaka denying a flying armbar, but eating a punch to the face seconds later was great. Eventually Hidaka took Yoshikawa out destroying his guts with knees and spin kicks that looked brutal. Very nice stuff and cool to see Hidaka doing something different when he could've just hit his usual spots instead.

STYLE-E Summer E Impact in West Chofu 7/22/2007

 Watch

 Masashi Takeda vs. Naoki Matsumoto

Nice to see Pro Wrestling DREAMERS boy Matsumoto show up. This was a nice match between two guy with amateur backgrounds. It was a pro-style match but they both displayed some swift amateur movements, like very high level on the basic go behinds on the mat etc. At one point Takeda has a really nice shot underneath for the ankle hold. Matsumoto did a solid job working Takedas arm and he's a really nifty worker in general. I really liked how when Matsumoto got entangled in the loose ropes Takeda immediately went for the kill by hitting a spear. Nice opening match.

Keita Yano & Chojin Yusha G Valion vs. Yuta Yoshikawa & Tomohiko Hashimoto - GREAT

 Valion and Hashimoto weren't much in this match, but they didn't stink it up either. Whenever Yano and Yoshikawa faced off it was nice, scrappy BattlARTS style action with both guys really peppering each other with kicks and open hands. Hashimoto is a slug but at least he hit hard when it was time to put a beatdown on Yano. Yano bumped big and ate some good punishment, he had a really pretty dropkick too. Thankfully, the finish was Yano vs. Yoshikawa again and it was really good pushing this into GREAT territory as Yano busted out cool STOs and his awesome bridging choke submission. Really nice stuff and didn't overstay its welcome.

Kyosuke Sasaki vs. Masanori Ishikura

Nice to see Ishikura getting a showcase match. This started with some really nice slick U-Style grappling before Sasaki upped the asshole moves and started grinding Ishikuras face. Ishikura fired back in style hitting a big dropkick followed by a massive dive over the top to the floor. After that the match was more on the pro style side but it ended up being really good action full of hard fought submission attempts. Ishikura certainly looked like he could kick and grapple with the best of them, and him busting out stuff like a Kido Clutch was really cool. Crafty finish where Sasaki is able to lock in an achilles hold, Ishikura looks in pain and tries to kick his way out only for Sasaki to turn it into a heel hook and tap him. Really enjoyed this one.

Kazuhiro Tamura & Masato Shibata vs. Kabuki Kid & Chon Shiryu & Bungee Takada

That heel trio is scummy as hell. But, because they worked a good structure with the heels working rudo tactics and building to hot tags, the match ended up working. Shiryu was by far the standout and looked great. When the two goons immediately started brawling with the faces he just stood in the ring and kept smiling and waving his flag like a prick. Then he hit this awesome flying kick to the floor. His kicks and kung fu spots are so cool and were a consistent highlight throughout the match. Kabuki Kid can hit a decent uppercut and thrust kick so that's all I need to be happy. Bungee Takada ain't much good but he manages to not stink up the match. Both Tamura and Shibata got hot tags, I really liked Tamura who's really quick and sharp at this point. Shibata is a tubby guy in a yellow singlet that says SHIBATA TIME and he just squishes people with his blubber. Shibata ends up turning against Tamura though giving the rudos an easy win. At least the fake Kabuki sprayed Tamura with some mist to make it memorable. Still, Shiryus performance here was insanely cool to check out, and the match was well worked.

The Library

Tanomusaku Toba Documentation #5

 

Tanomusaku Toba & Tsunehito Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Tomohiko Hashimoto (DDT 5/26/2001) - EPIC

More good shit from the early DDT shootstyle division. This was a crazy thaiboxer teaming with an a UWF trained grappler against a straight judoka and a killing machine, you have to love it. Toba/Ishii exchanges were once again so fucking violent and great. Initially Ishii was blowing off Tobas strikes and just mauling him. This whole match Toba really works like a guy who is too small to have enough hitting power to KO the big guys right away, but he will absolutely pummel guys with shots until he is able to land a big one. I dug Naito here, having some cool judo vs. UWF style grappling exchanges against Hashimoto, throwing some great neck-spiking suplexes and reversing an STO into a backdrop in a pretty great spot. I also loved his little floor browling section with Ishii where he threw a reckless dropkick with Ishii launching a chair right back at him. I continue to enjoy Tomohiko Hashimoto as a guy with nothing but cool judo throws, and he was ragdolling the shit out of Toba with his throws and suplexes and even a cloverleaf giant swing at one point. TOBA was great as he usually is in the matches, throwing crazy kicks and punches while absorbing said massive beatings and bumps on his own. I probably would’ve preferred a Toba vs. Ishii ending run, as you could tell Hashimoto is limited and pretty green here (not sure if his early judoka phase wasn’t actually his peak as he spent the rest of his career as a crummy garbage brawler), but the Toba vs. Hashimoto end run was about was well put together as you can do thai boxer vs. judoka, with Hashimoto throwing out crazy suplex and Toba backhanding the shit out of his face.

Tanomusaku Toba vs. Tomohiko Hashimoto (DDT 5/21/2002) - FUN

Talk about a contrast. Hashimoto has no strikes and is a judoka, Toba has no grapples and is a thaiboxer. It could have been a pretty esoteric match, but they made it digestible for their mainstream audience. Toba punches really hard and hits big dives, and Hashimoto tosses the fuck out of him. Really good example of Tobas ragdoll bumping as Hashimoto just threw him around like a child. It was like a 5 minute match (probably for the better) and I would think this is what US TV matches could look like in a cool parallel universe.

Tanomusaku Toba & Kota Ibushi vs. Munenori Sawa & Yuta Yoshikawa, DDT 4/1/2007 - GREAT

4 youngins beating the soul out of eachother. Ibushi was wild here, he really should've kept working like a slap-happy kickboxer instead of turning into a flip machine. Even in a match where everyone is throwing potatoes Toba stands out, he throws his combos a little faster than everyone else, really understands how to anticipate his opponents strikes, and he lands his big punches with a slightler bigger thud than everyone else. Whenever he gets put in a submission, the intensity increases drastically. I remember Yoshikawa being pretty hit and miss in his BattlARTS days, but he looked good here putting some stretches on Toba early on and giving Ibushi a nasty facewash later. His section with Toba was an easy career highlight. And then you had that bare knuckle boxing finish. Great stuff.

Tanomusaku Toba & MIKAMI vs. Munenori Sawa & Sanshiro Takagi, DDT 5/10/2010 - GREAT

Good times. Munenori Sawa was a shot in the arm for DDT at this point. He and Takagi had formed "Team Hentai". This was basically a mindless spotfest, but the spots were cool and unpredictable and there were enough violent Toba exchanges to push this into GREAT territory. Starts with a cool shootstyle floor brawling section between him and Sawa. Sawa could be pretty good at this time as an asskicker, and when he went for his Muto tribute spiel Toba punched him in the face hard, so that was good. MIKAMI did a bit of a weak looking reverse lungblower early on which is the kind of shit I don't want in my wrestling, but he looked good for the rest of the match. He is a bit trickier, a bit slicker than your typical junior and when he brought his ladder into play the spots were cool and unpredictable. Takagi had a bit of a bumbling middle aged cop vibe at this point, but he still had very good chemistry with TOBA.

TANOMUSAKU TOBA DOCUMENTATION PROJECT MASTER LIST