Takeshi Ono vs. Daisuke Ikeda (Futen, 9/26/10)

This is more or less fives minutes of Daisuke Ikeda getting rocked with headshots, trying to find a way to promptly submit Takeshi Ono in order to put an end to the relentless barrage of punches and kicks. He’s able to catch a stray kick and plant Ono with a capture suplex early on but Ono’s back up and at ‘em with more brutal straight punches to the skull.  Ikeda fires off the occasional kick and when he’s finally able to stun him with a headbutt, he’s unable to take advantage of it as Ono is a persistent little bastard. After a brutal spinning backfist, Ono throws Ikeda with a tiger suplex before kicking him directly in the face. Yikes. They trade hard strikes and Ikeda is able to get him on the mat, where there’s some jockeying for position and control. Ono shifts into a front mount and starts in with the punches but once Ikeda’s able to snag one of his arms, he puts on the Fujiawara armbar and it’s over just as quickly as it began. Short on time and like watching two dudes beat each other silly? Check this one out.

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.

Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda (Futen, 4/24/05)

Six years later, both Ishikawa and Ikeda look like they’ve seen some hell, and they're about to put each other through hell in a match all about the violence of the strikes. Ikeda's man enough to shake Ishikawa's hand and then immediately punches him at the sound of the bell. Tons of sick punches, elbows, kicks, with some queasy camerawork trying to capture the action. Built around the struggle, there's still some neat little things, like Ishikawa kicking out Ikeda's arms when he tries to push for for leverage during a leglock. But when it hits, it hits hard. Ishiakwa gets busted open with a gross punt kick to the face, Ishikawa folds Ikeda up with backdrop drivers, and then they're punching each other in the face and headbutting, finally scrambling around for a final submission hold in a cool departure from the brutality of the match. In the end, Ishikwa finally catches him in the rear naked choke for the submission.

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.

Daisuke Ikeda & Takeshi Ono vs. Alexander Otsuka & Satoshi Yoneyama (Inoki Festival, 12/1/96)

For a stiff as day-old catshit BattlARTS exhibition tag, this match ruled. Everyone had a role to play in this, and Ikeda’s willingness to get dumped on his head by Otsuka’s brutal suplexes will never not impress. Yoneyama’s the unknown underdog rocking the Tiger Mask IV pants and for a guy I’d never heard of, my first impression is a thumbs up, as he dished out some punishment as much as he took it, especially in the end against Ikeda. Ono was awesome with his wiliness both on the mat and on his feet slinging kicks. I liked the way he nonchalantly tapped Otsuka with kicks or kick his opponents from the apron. Both he and Ikeda did a good job of patrolling submission holds, so mostly, this was about the fold-up suplexes and hard hits. The finishing stretch was ugly beautiful, as poor Yoneyama tries to quickly submit Ikeda with the front necklock but that backfires and Ikeda solebutt kicks him in the throat, kicks him in the head, and when Yone won’t stay down, he slaps him silly and kicks him back down for good.

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.

Daisuke Ikeda & Katsumi Usuda vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Sho Funaki (PWFG, 5/19/95)

Sho Funaki working in a shoot-style environment is just about as awkward as you’d expect it to be. While he’s not quite the striker, he does manage some decent takedowns and works the mat well enough. But he’s mostly a punching bag for Ikeda and Usuda here, which is fine, too. Usuda snaps off kicks and throws out some nasty open hands, while Ikeda’s a little more gritty with his stomps and kidney punches. Poor Funaki gets dumped with a German suplex and that’s the last we see of him before Ikeda and Ishikawa shut it down like you’d expect. Plenty of snug shots and grunty matwork, with Ikeda wrenching at his face and choking him out for the win. Fun tag.

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.