Yuki Ishikawa vs. Hideki Suzuki (BattlARTS, 10/24/10)

Two masters at what they do (i.e. wrestling/grappling/destroying) doing what they do best. Approximately 97% of this match is spent on the mat, working holds. The highest impact move is a gutwrench suplex by Hideki Suzuki, who is still a young boy at this point in his pro-wrestling career but already better than guys who've been working 10+ years. A straightforward chess match on the canvas and if you can dig the slower pace, this is a match well worth checking out.

Munenori Sawa & Ikuto Hidaka vs. Yuta Yoshikawa & Katsumi Usuda (BattlARTS, 2/7/10)

This is Yuta Yoshikawa's retirement from professional wrestling. Sadly, Yoshikawa had a short-lived career but boy oh boy, did he go out with a bang -- a lot of bangs. I remember watching this match when it first popped up online and it quickly became one of my favorite tag team matches...and it still is. These guys work an incredibly stiff pace for over 25 minutes and it's insane. Ikuto Hidaka working in a shoot-style setting is one of my favorite things to watch because the cat is super slick on the mat with his counters and his wily kicks. He and Katsumi Usuda focus on the submission attempts while Munenori Sawa and the retiring Yoshikawa kick the shit out of each other. The selling was really convincing throughout, especially from Hidaka and Yoshikawa, who takes an absolute beating but is still exhaustively swinging away. There are countless brutal strikes, nasty suplexes, including a big dragon from Sawa, and an emotional finish, as Sawa kicks Yoshikawa in the head and Yoshikawa struggles to make it back to his feet before the ten count. Instead of letting him get counted down and moving on with his day, Sawa stops the ref, urging Yoshikawa to get up and keep fighting.  And he gets up, he’s all fired up, slapping everyone, including his own partner, before he and Sawa thrash each other a bit longer and Sawa knocks him out with a punch. One of the best BattlARTS matches and a personal all-time favorite.

Munenori Sawa vs. Yujiro Yamamoto (BattlARTS, 8/30/09)

When it comes to the BattlARTS bati-bati-boys, I've always gravitated toward Yujiro Yamamoto, whose matwork and transitions were slick as catshit. Munenori Sawa can definitely hold his own on the mat and I actually prefer him working the ground as opposed to throwing baseball punches and Shining Wizards. Really good intense grappling to open with lots of reversals. There's a great moment when Yamamoto starts elbowing Sawa while he's got him by the legs, which allows him to grab the arm submission. Of course, there's plenty of stiff kicks and face slaps as the match progresses. Yamamoto's defense is really good early, especially in blocking the figure-four attempt. Sawa's dragon screw legwhip into the ropes was one of the more gnarly spots of the match, which he follows up with a bunch of pissy kicks. When Sawa lands his baseball punch, Yamamoto doesn't go down but when he tries for a follow up, Yamamoto smacks him and his his own submarine-style baseball slap. In the end, Sawa wins with a neat trapped kneebar but this match had it all, from the struggle on the mat, cool counters, and stiff exchanges in between.

Munenori Sawa vs. Mitsuya Nagai (BattlARTS, 10/25/08)

I really liked the old-school late 1970's feel to the hybridized style of BattlARTS, with Mitsuya Nagai playing the mean surly veteran and laying it into the spunky ball of fire in Munenori Sawa. Classic psychology and showmanship combined with stiff kicks and submission attempts. Sawa hangs with him awhile on the mat before Nagai takes over, working him with hard kicks and leg holds. While Sawa's in-the-moment selling is good, Nagai's grunting and yelling as he exerts more pressure on the holds really gets the crowd behind Sawa's eventual escapes. Great escalation of back half with tons of nasty strikes and suplexes and by the end of it, that total exhaustion factor that plays so well into many BattlARTS matches. Loved the final knee strike from Nagai and Sawa’s selling on the ten count with the fans firmly behind him. Really great match.

Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda (BattlARTS, 8/29/99)

At the very least, tied with the May 1998 match as my favorite in their series of beatdowns. This is the final of the Young Generations Battle '99 -- and keep in mind that Ikeda had worked a 15:00 match prior to this against Mohammed Yone to get him to this point. As with many of their matches, it starts in similar fashion with Ikeda trying to hang on the ground and Ishikawa prevailing. But clearly, Ikeda is more worn out here and he doesn’t quite have the same fire. He’s more desperate,  wanting to just slug it out with Ishikaw -- and they do and of course, it’s stiff, gritty, and uncompromising. Ishikawa finds some leverage on the ground and starts working him over but Ikeda is too relentless, kicking him against the ropes, Ishikawa doing his best to try and block the brunt of them before he fires back hard with elbows. Ikeda's able to put him in a tired triangle choke and even tries for the crossface chickenwing he lost to in their earlier tournament match – I mean, you get the sense that he really wants to beat Ishikawa and Ishikawa is just trying not to lose. After finally leveling Ishikawa with a lariat on the third try, Ikeda puts him in a pretty badass kimura but Ishikawa makes the ropes. Ishikawa, on the otherhand, is throwing dope suplexes and trying to choke him out but Ikeda won’t die. In the end, he uses whatever energy he has left to drop Ishikawa with the Death Valley Bomb and tap him with the armbar. What a fight!

Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda (BattlARTS, 5/27/98)

This may be my favorite match of the series...but we'll re-evaluate that when we get to 1999. This is, by far, the most brutal of their match-ups chronologically. Yuki Ishikawa is in no mood to play Daisuke Ikeda's game and immediately drops to the mat, beckoning Ikeda to grapplefuck, only to headbutt him, which takes as much out of Ishikawa as it does Ikeda. Again, this is a match where neither man can keep the advantage for very long, and any minor mistake can be costly, as seen when Ikeda grabs the surprise armbar when Ishikawa leaves his arm open for too long. Ishikawa will play Ikeda's striking game long enough to grab a submission, while Ikeda will manage to find a submission of his own through a little hustle and grind.

When Ikeda bails to the outside following Ishikawa's armbar, it's like he came back into the ring trying to appease his demon, because he becomes a real dirty daddy, batting Ishikawa around with forearms, straight punting him in the head, and then hitting one of the meanest lariats I've seen in awhile. He beats the shit out of Ishikawa, who sells the beating quite convincingly, to the point where he looks completely out of it. Then Ikeda suddenly runs into a whopper punch to the face and Ishikawa heats up, snapping him over with a backdrop, connecting with the enziguri to set-up the octopus in his best Inoki impression. But in the end, the submissions ain’t cutting the mustard for Ishikawa, and after Ikeda spin kicks him in the fucking face, he gets KO’d by a head kick. Awesome match/battle/asskicking.

Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda (BattlARTS, 9/1/97)

This was a super cool match and another solid addition to the series. It kicks off with a couple of dope suplexes, Ishikawa trying to wrangle Ikeda on the mat, and Ikeda punching his way out of trouble. The contest is pretty even throughout the first part of the match, with them trading strikes and trying to find an opening on the mat. There is this great little spat exchange that ends in Ikeda lariating the shit out of Ishikawa. I thought Ishikawa was really good here, as far as his presence on the ground -- for example, when he has to use a rope break on the rear naked choke, he immediately grabs Ikeda’s arm after the break. Also, Ikeda works Ishikawa’s nose at one point, which rules. After he takes out Ishikawa’s knee with a dropkick, there’s some terrific selling from Ishikawa as he tries to stay in the corner. Just really good grunty groundwork and instinctive wrestling -- like when Ikeda struggles against the German suplex, Ishikawa just quickly grabs a choke instead. By the end of it, they’re both exhausted, a common trope of this series, and they clobber each other until Ikeda lariats the side of Ishikawa’s head and takes him back down with the choke sleeper for the submission.

Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda (BattlARTS, 4/15/97)

What a draw. These two continue to play their respective roles and early on, Ishikawa shows Ikeda that he can’t survive off kicks alone, taking him to the ropes…but then immediately afterward, Ikeda blasts him with a boot to the forehead. They transition from holds to strikes to suplexes, with Ishikawa utilizing some nifty counters. Then it sort of settles back down on the mat, with Ikeda mostly staying on the arm, occasionally straight punching Ishikawa in the face to set up an armbar. I really liked Ishikawa using the headbutts to get Ikeda off the ropes for the German suplex. And then, of course, Ikeda using the full nelson and almost deadlifting Ishikawa up into a dragon suplex. During the final minutes, they start with the big strikes to try and finish it, and you can tell they’re both completely exhausted, especially Ishikawa, who can’t manage much of anything on the mat. He hits a fisherman buster in desperation, trying to secure the arm, but Ikeda rolls to the ropes as the time limit expires. Great stuff.

BattlARTS Tag Grab Bag #1

For an upcoming episode of Fighting Network FRIENDS, we're gearing for another classic feud -- this time, between Yuki Ishikawa and Daisuke Ikeda, a feud that spanned almost two decades across the Japanese indie pro wres landscape. While they've met numerous times in singles competition, theu've also butted heads (literally) in tag team action.

Yuki Ishikawa & Alexander Otsuka vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Takeshi Ono (BattlARTS, 10/30/96)

Violent, chaotic, beautiful: welcome to BattlARTS. Takeshi Ono is such a little prick throughout this match, you just can't wait to see him get smashed. From the start, he's kicking and stomping Ishikawa from the apron, and whenever Ishikawa or Otsuka manages a submission hold, he's quick to interject himself and break it up with more shitty kicks. At one point later in the match, Otsuka delivers a Northern Lights suplex to Ikeda and tries to transition into the double wristlock...before Ono comes in and kicks his fucking hand while he's trying to apply the hold! No submission is safe. Ikeda is a dick, too. He manages to piss off Otsuka on the apron, who comes in and dumps Ikeda on his head with a gnarly suplex before the two are back-and-forth, trading headbutts. Ono continues pissing on everyone until Otsuka finally grabs him and gives him one of the best Giant Swings I've seen. Otsuka's also there to throw some dope suplexes, including a deadlift German to Ikeda. I loved Ikeda kicking his way out of Ishikawa's leg hold before it breaks down into them punching and smacking each other. Otsuka finally takes Ono out of the equation by German suplexing him in half, which allows Ishikawa to secure the Fujiwara armbar on Ikeda for the submission.

Daisuke Ikeda & Katsumi Usuda vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Takeshi Ono (BattlARTS, 1/21/97)

This time, that little shitbag Ono is on Ishikawa's team but he isn't quite as obnoxious. In fact, he and Usuda put on quite the mat show with their scrambling and reversals. Usuda is super stiff with his kicks, to both Ono and Ishikawa, and as expected, Ikeda and Ishikawa are trying to kill each other. Early on, Ikeda delivers this beautiful takedown and immediately kicks Ishikawa in the face but Ishikawa being the man still manages to snag the leg and send Ikeda to the ropes. Usuda's pretty much in the Ono role for this match, kicking Ikeda from the apron, being a dick. Ono kicks him in the face and tries for an armbar but Usuda slickly maneuvers into a kneebar, and then they slip-and-slide around the canvas looking for an advantage. Ono and Ishikawa try to destroy Ikeda's leg toward the end of the match, with Ono landing some big head kicks to Ikeda in the corner but still peppering the leg with low kicks. But in the end, Ikeda obliterates Ishikawa with a brutal clubbing lariat and Usuda comes in with the choke sleeper, picking up the submission. Great stuff.

Yuki Ishikawa & Carl Malenko vs. Kazunari Murakami & Naoyuki Taira (BattlARTS, 9/7/00)

The HATE between Yuki Ishikawa and Kazunari Murakami permeates throughout the whole match, whereas Carl Malenko and Naoyuki Taira are, more or less, left to their own devices, even into the finish, where Malenko has Taira in a crossface hold and Murakami's more concerned with staring down Ishikawa then breaking up the submission. Rewind, Murakami promptly jumps Ishikawa at the start of the match and Ishikawa catches him, deadlifting him into a German suplex like "what bitch?!" The work on the mat between them is aggressive, with Ishikawa clawing Murakami's face when he tries to block the headbutts. Meanwhile, last time we saw Taira, who was "way too oily" in RINGS and now he's coming into BattlARTS with spin kicks and shitty little smirks. The stuff between he and Malenko was a lot of fun, with Malenko showing off with takedowns and transitions, and Taira blasting him with knees and kicks for knockdowns. One thing I really like about Malenko is the way he sinks into submission holds. But then we're back to Murakami/Ishikawa, with Murakami kicking him out of the ring, scraping around the crowd, kicking chairs and shit, throwing his mouthguard at Ishikawa. Lovely stuff. They continue thrashing each other on the mat until Ishikawa catches him with an armbreaker on the ropes, which plays into their eventual awesome singles match later int he year. In the end, they're too busy mean mugging each other to care about Malenko's sweet submission finish. Lots to love on here.

BattlARTS (3/25/00)

Yuki Ishikawa & Naoki Sano vs. Alexander Otsuka & Kazunari Murakami

Kazunari Murakami and Yuki Ishikawa have such good chemistry together -- Murakami's always coming out rabid and swinging, and the cooler Ishikawa is just trying to get the takedown and submission. Murakami is one of the few guys out there whose sloppiness actually adds to the match and his charm. I love the way Alexander Otsuka maneuvers around the mat and floats around his opponent (with Sano here) as he's constantly looking for an opening to suplex or a limb to snag. The brawling on the outside was awesome with Ishikawa jacking Murakami with these gnarly elbow shots and rolling around with him on the collapsed chairs. And when Murakami kicks Sato in the butt after the big dive and commentary lols...precious. I thought Ishikawa's deadlift German to Otsuka as he's crawling to his corner was incredible, and of course, Otsuka answers with a nasty release dragon. Oh, and Otsuka makes the best saves. Really good match that flies right by, despite the 30:00 time limit draw. 

Daisuke Ikeda vs. Katsumi Usuda

A lot of stiff love, with Usuda opening the match with all these shitty little headbutts before trying to choke out Ikeda. Then he starts snapping off kicks, landing a couple of headshots to Ikeda, who stumbles around until he runs into a shot that knocks him flat. Really great hard kicks from Usuda throughout. Of course, Ikeda dishes it back, waylaying Usuda with a big right hand before clobbering the fuck out of him with a lariat on the ropes. Usuda spends some time going after the arm, doing a good job of maneuvering around Ikeda's escape or counter attempts to stay in control. Loved when Ikeda freaks out on him with his punts, stomps, and kicks. Really liked the finish too, with Ikeda grabbing the arm, rolling around into a Fujiwara armbar, and then laying on him with the choke sleeper until Usuda's eyes go white. Too bad this was clipped because this ruled. 

Yuki Ishikawa, Munenori Sawa, Alexander Otsuka vs. Daisuke Ikeda, Katsumi Usuda, & Super Tiger (BattlARTS, 7/26/08)

Awesome six-man elimination match, which you don't get too often in a hybrid shoot-style environment. This is the kind of shit that got me back into pro-wrestling -- the frantic, almost relentless matwork, trying to hold onto a submission long enough to do enough damage before somebody runs into the ring and shitkicks them. Everyone is constantly following up on their attack, going from submission hold to strikes back to a submission hold, not leaving much breathing room. I mean, for a 45-minute match, the pace they’re working is incredible. This felt like the BattlARTS version of a classic All Japan six-man, with everyone playing up their respective roles: Sawa, the wild child, Usuda, the aggressive little shitkicker, Ikeda provoking everyone from the apron or break up holds, Otsuka the suplex machine, and Ishikawa the dad that has to come in and save his kids. Oh yeah, and Super Tiger, whose tripping all over himself trying to land kicks.

Otsuka and Usuda were the two standouts of the match, in my opinion. Otsuka's always grabbing limbs, transitioning from hold to hold, trying to find an opening for a submission, while creatively maneuvering around the mat. And of course, he throws awesome suplexes. Usuda has great strikes, between his slaps, palm thrusts, kicks...but I also really liked his counterwork, grabbing Sawa’s arm on the figure-four attempt and putting him in a keylock, or catching the Shining Wizard with a kneebar. He’s really stiff against Ishikawa, landing some brutal looking high kicks and a lunging headbutt. But then Otsuka eliminates him after dropping on his neck with a German and then on his ding dang head with a dragon suplex.

In the end, Ishikawa’s the lone survivor against Tiger and Ikeda. I loved the sequence where he’s got Tiger in the Indian Deathlock and every time Ikeda comes in and knocks him down with a kick, it exerts all that pressure onto the submission hold. Tiger’s able to get a couple of knockdowns with his kicks but once Ishikawa’s grabs hold of the leg off the spinning heel kick, he taps him out with the heel hook. The final comes down to Ishikawa and Ikeda and, as always, just about everything they throw is as stiff as day-old catshit. Punches, lariats, kicks – I mean, at this point in the match, with time slipping away, the desperation and exhaustion are major factors, and Ishikawa especially is relentless in trying to submit Ikeda before the time expires. Check this one out, guys and gals.

Bas Rutten vs. Carl Malenko (BattlARTS, 10/14/01)

In addition to his time in NJPW, Bas Rutten wrestled twice in BattlARTS and this was the better of the two (the other being an okay tag match with Amir(?) against Malenko and Alexander Otsuka). That being said, the match itself was decent. The matwork felt restrained and there were some awkward hesitations most likely due to Rutten adjusting to the worked "shoot-style" environment. Rutten keeps staggering Malenko with high kicks but can't really cinch anything in on the ground except for a kimura, whereas Malenko keeps sending Rutten to the ropes by focusing on the arm but obviously can't outstrike Rutten. In the end, Rutten's kicks win out, when he connects with a shot to Malenko's ribs, downing him for the TKO victory.

Bob Backlund vs. Daisuke Ikeda (BattlARTS, 10/5/98)

It's always a blast watching Bob Backlund in this "shoot-style" environment, especially against a bruiser like Daisuke Ikeda. Here, he stooges around for most of the first half until they start slapping each other and Ikeda headbutts him out of the ring. Backlund's selling of the headbutt is the best kind of comedy, as he collapses into some of the fans in the first row while Ikeda mocks him in the ring. Backlund's able to reverse an abdominal stretch into a big ole double arm suplex and in true Backlund fashion, he powers up out of an armbar and sets Ikeda on the top rope...only to get leveled with a flying lariat. Backlund hits his big running atomic drop and a piledriver and while they fight over a chicken wing, Backlund scores the pinfall with the European clutch. A fun easy, breezy watch.

Yuki Ishikawa vs. Carl Greco (BattlARTS, 6/9/08)

Hey girl, wanna grapplefuck? Yuki Ishikawa and Carl Greco do. For fifteen minutes -- no strikes, one suplex, lots of grappletime. Look, I'm not even going to pretend to know the names of all the hold variations. Greco's swift and sneaky, able to evade a lot of Ishikawa's gruff old man attempts. They're both largely looking for chokes with Greco quick to apply the leg scissors. When Greco tries for the out-of-nowhere leg takedown, Ishikawa's able to snag an arm with his legs and get the cross kneebar on but Greco uses a rope break. Ishikawa throws Greco with a German suplex but can't capilize as Carl's able to put him in a swanky scissored armbar and then a front necklock to force him to the ropes. The way Greco cranks his legs around Ishikawa's neck during the follow-up guillotine is awesome but the veteran grabs an arm and lays back, forcing Greco back to the ropes. They stand, they mutually grab the ropes because they want this to end, and the last couple of minutes are about as aggressive as this match gets, with lots of cool holds and slip outs. In the end, Greco cinches in a cravate and picks up the impressive win over Ishikawa. I like matwork as much as the next guy and this was as good as shoot-matwork gets but I miss the strikes.