(Written by Jom)
BattlARTS 01/21/97(starts at 01:35:08)
Every single person in this match has the classic trunks and kickpads look, except for Ishikawa. He's rocking tennis shoes and knee-high socks which yes, are also covered by kneepads. King shit. The match starts with an Ono and Usuda sprawl, and man, I already miss both guys. Ono's got such great technique and Usuda is one of the smoothest grapplers in history. Eventually Ono gets the advantage with a heel hook, but Ikeda isn't a big fan of that so he runs in and head kicks Ono. This lets Usuda put in his own heel hook, but Ishikawa also isn't a fan of that, so he walks over and FALLING HEADBUTTS USUDA. We are one minute in and we've had heel hook trading, head kicks, and headbutts. This is BattlARTS, baby. Ikeda and Ishikawa tag in and the crowd pops, as by this point fans knew what to expect from the greatest rivalry in history. Ikeda puts Ishikawa in the corner and as they come out of it Ikeda does a nasty suplex onto Ishikawa's head. How do you follow something like this up? Well, if you're Daisuke Ikeda, you kick Ishikawa straight in the fucking face. Usuda is able to get tagged back in, throwing some kicks and elbows with truly malicious intent. At this point I'm almost 99% sure I heard a baby crying for a second. This means that one person in the audience decided to raise their child on Bati-Bati. I stopped just taking notes for this post and started also taking notes for my future. Usuda kicks Ishikawa towards the ropes and OH YEAH BABY IT'S TIME FOR THE IKEDA/TAG PARTNER MACHINE GUN KICKS. You know the one, Ikeda's partner is throwing kicks from the inside and Ikeda is throwing kicks to the back of the opponent through the ropes. Ikeda tags in and does a sweet combo on Ishikawa, but at this point Ishikawa decides he's done fucking around and headbutts Ikeda. He lets go of Ikeda's head and backs up a little, and OH MY GOD, LEAPING NO-HAND HEADBUTT, JESUS FUCKING CHRIST. A LITTLE MORE EXCHANGING BETWEEN THE TWO BEFORE THEY START THROWING POTATOES, I AM SO HYPED UP RIGHT NOW. DAISUKE TAKES THE ADVANTAGE, REAR DAICHAN BOMBER, HIGH KICK TO THE FUCKING NOSE!!! At this point Usuda gets tagged in and I'm given about 20 seconds to breathe, which I fucking needed. Ishikawa gets control of Usuda and is able to do his signature struggling backdrop. The fact nobody today does anything even remotely similar is a travesty. Ono gets tagged in, and at this point he had only been part of the great early sprawl. Ono makes up for this lack of presence by immediately high kicking Usuda hard enough to get a knockdown. Ikeda and Ono exchange blows, and Ono starts to target Ikeda's leg. When I say target, I mean like a shark to blood. He gets a knockdown count on one of his leg kicks, which I thought actually crippled Ikeda for a second. Ikeda sells the leg like a gunshot, holding onto the ropes for dear life, knowing that he literally cannot stand on his own at this point. Even after tagging in Usuda the selling doesn't stop, as the moment he knows he's no longer the legal man he drops straight to the ground. Ikeda's body is hurting but his willpower is unmatched. Usuda has control for a good bit, but Ishikawa is able to take it back and put on a nasty single leg crab. Ikeda tries to break it up with a kick to Ishikawa, but Ishikawa holds on, and before Ikeda can try again Ono comes out of nowhere with a huge flying knee and a high kick that sends him to hell. Ono puts Usuda in a manjigatame and Ikeda FUCKING RABBIT PUNCHES HIM. HE GOES FOR THE DAICHAN BOMBER BUT ONO DODGES, BUT ONO CAN'T DODGE THE 2ND ONE. USUDA HITS A GOD DAMN REAR URAKEN, AND FINALLY LOCKS IN A REAR NAKED CHOKE FOR THE TAPOUT VICTORY. As a long-time BattlARTS fan, I can say this was a definitely above-average BattlARTS main event tag match. This sounds somewhat degrading, but it's also important to know that in my own opinion, BattlARTS main event tag matches are some of the greatest matches EVER. For this to be above average really speaks to how good it was. Every single person got their moments, and the ending sequence was one of the greatest I've ever seen. If Ono got a little bit more time to shine, I believe this would've been a top 10 match ever. However, as it stands now, I guess it'll have to settle for top 100.
Rating: A
It's been nearly 14 years since the first match, and these four men have traded their swiftness for pure old man spite. Before the match even starts, Ikeda rushes Ishikawa. They've been doing this shit for almost two decades and the heat behind their fights has never calmed, only grown more and more ferocious and remorseless. Ishikawa at one point slaps Ikeda in the back of the head, and Ikeda makes him pay for the disrespect by stiffing him with elbows and kicking him straight in the face. Ono gets tagged and immediately goes straight for Ikeda's leg, almost like after these 13 years Ono still remembers the killer tactic that almost got his team the win last time. He then follows this up with an absolutely evil double knee drop to Ikeda's face. By the way, this is less than 5 minutes into the match. Usuda gets in and he's still a great grappler, not moving as smoothly as he did in '97 but that makes sense since, y'know, it's been 13 years. Ishikawa and Ikeda tag back in and Ishikawa is soon put into a rear naked choke. Ono rushes in out of frame, only appearing on camera at the last second to dropkick Ikeda straight in the face. Ishikawa throws some loud slaps, but Ikeda just gets angry and does a nasty shoot headbutt. Ishikawa then tries to get a crossface chickenwing in, but Ikeda simply bites his hand to make him stop. This is why my personal hall of fame is called the "Ikeda Memorial (yeah I know he isn't dead) Violence Hall of Fame". Ikeda tries multiple Daichan Bombers but keeps getting reversed by Ishikawa, before finally hitting a nasty one, AND ISHIKAWA GETS BACK UP AND ENZI'S HIM STRAIGHT IN THE JAW. Ikeda is down for the count, but right before the 10 is able to tag Usuda in. Usuda comes in like a house of fire to the also-tagged Ono, but upon trying a leg scissors takedown on Ono gets stomped in the face. Ono rains down some shots to the prone Usuda but Usuda still finds a way to get an ankle lock in. Usuda later locks a fujiwara on Ono, and Ono tries to roll out of it. Usuda notices this and maintains the arm control to put it right back in, but is still forced to released it by an Ishikawa headbutt. Ono then takes control with some of the nastiest offense I've ever seen, including a punch flurry on Usuda while he's hanging on the middle rope, a running knee to the face, and a double arm manjigatame. Everyone in this match is just tired at this point, but even while they go in and out of consciousness they continue to try and bludgeon their opponents, running on adrenaline alone. Usuda and Ono trade urakens but Usuda gets control and puts in a heel hook. Ikeda sees this, and flashbacks to the 1997 match hit him. He walks over with Ishikawa trying to hold him back, and as god as my witness, IKEDA HITS THE HEEL HOOKING USUDA WITH A FALLING FUCKING HEADBUTT. Hype has now reached critical mass. Usuda gets some leg kicks in on Ono but Ono throws a stray round straight into Usuda's jaw, taking that moment to jump onto him and lock in a sick guillotine, which Ikeda STILL finds a way to break up. Ono throws a punch combo at Usuda and, realizing that Ikeda would always find a way to break up his submission attempts, rushes Ikeda and slugs him right in the jaw to keep him out of the equation. Ono gets greedy however, and after finally dropping Usuda with one more big right, goes for another one, which Usuda is able to dodge and Ono gets put in a heel hook. Ishikawa drops some knees straight to Usuda's forehead but Usuda refuses to let go/ While this happens Ikeda has gotten back into the ring and is doing repeated crawling headbutts to the trapped Ono. This is absolute chaos in the best way possible. Ishikawa finally forces Usuda to break the hold, and Ono gets on top of him and throws a shit ton of mounted punches. FU-TEN's director decides to switch to a dutch angle for this, and I want to kiss that director on the lips because it was magnificent. Usuda is barely holding on at this point and is about to lose, when Ikeda finally is able to get away from Ishikawa and does a POINTED KNEE TO THE BACK OF ONO'S HEAD, THEN A DAICHAN BOMBER, AND USUDA PUTS A NASTY KNEEBAR IN TO ONCE AGAIN, 13 YEARS LATER, FORCE ONO TO TAP OUT. Even after the bell rings and the match is over, Ikeda and Ishikawa won't stop throwing headbutts, because hate this strong lasts forever. I'm not sure if it was communicated well enough in this long wall of text, but this match was decidedly more violent than their '97 one. However, in my personal opinion, the '97 encounter between these teams is just a little bit better, as that match had nearly no down time and everything felt better worked towards. In isolation though, there aren't many matches that come close to being better than this one. All hail FU-TEN. All hail BattlARTS. All hail the art of Bati-Bati.
Rating: A-
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