Daisuke Ikeda & Takahiro Oba vs. Makoto Hashi & Kengo Mashimo (FUTEN, 10/25/10)

To be honest, I don’t have the strongest stomach when it comes to deathmatches. Anytime syringes are involved or some chubby dude is picking at a guy’s scar-tissued forehead with a broken lighttube…no thanks. But when it comes to heavy-duty strikefests, I’m good…usually. This tag match, however, had me clenching my teeth on more than one occasion. Daisuke Ikeda was the star of this match, taking a brutal, brutal beating, mostly at the hands (or, forehead) of Makoto “Man Tits” Hashi. His selling was phenomenal and despite his constant interfering on his partner’s behalf, I felt for him and wanted to see him reap his vengeance. There’s some lighter-hearted stuff too with Oba being a goofball, falling on his ass on a whiffed kick and flailing his arms around on offense but yeah, this thing was built around the interactions between Ikeda and Hashi. The headbutt exchanges were on another level of uncomfortable, as Hashi busts Ikeda and himself open with some nasty cranium-to-cranium contact.  Then when they’re on all fours like a couple of pitbulls ramming their noggins together, yikes. Not only are the headbutts gnarly but there is zero hesitations behind Hashi’s chops and Ikeda’s kicks.

Mashimo and Oba have some good chemistry together as they trade strikes for a minute and when Kengo’s up against Ikeda, he’s blasting him with kicks and knees, trying to lay him out for the ten count. There’s a great spot where Mashimo ducks the lariat attempt and plants Ikeda with a uranage, following it up with a sick punt kick to the back. The final showdown between Ikeda and Hashi is incredible and  gut-wrenching. Loved the spot where Ikeda gets headbutted by Hashi and he stumbles back to his corner, looking for a tag out, and Oba slaps him in the face! The two of them unload on one another with the stiffest shots they can muster and Ikeda tries to end it via submission but Mashimo breaks it up. Hashi’s pissed now (as if he wasn’t before) and doesn’t let up with the headbutts, repeatedly bashing Ikeda in the corner, turning his forehead into a Margarita pizza pie. Ikeda’s trying to fight back with kicks and he’s finally able to deliver that lariat before laying the final nail in the coffin kicks to Hashi, including one foot to the mouth, which Hashi isn’t able to recover from. Super intense final minutes. What a tag match.