Comprehensive Super Rider #4

        (Written by jom, photo credit to Extreme Party)

Super Rider, Asian Cougar, & Yuki Nishino vs. Ni Hao, Thanomsak Toba, & Takashi Sasaki (DDT 11/25/1999)

    I cannot say enough how great it is that so much early DDT has appeared throughout the years, because good lord, what a murderers' row. I've talked a lot about most of the people in this match, but somehow, I've never talked about Ni Hao before this. It makes sense considering just how little of his work is available, but really, every time a prime Ni Hao match is found, it feels like a cause for celebration. Ni Hao was Koki Kitahara's protege and the crown prince of CAPTURE, working at the top of CAPTURE cards while also starting the original REAL BLOOD with Tomohiro Ishii. He's a scrappy as hell shooter who can do tight grappling while throwing bombs with the best of them, usually working as a fired-up underdog but sometimes showcasing a mean streak reminiscent of his mentor. I honestly believe that Ni Hao could've been something special in pro wrestling given more exposure, and in an alternate universe, he was one of the top prospects of the dying days of the first Battlarts.

    With a match like this, I would usually focus on the best performers, only giving a little bit of time to the lesser men. That's gonna be hard to do for this match though, because everyone was fucking killing it! Rider and Ni Hao were of course my focus points for the match, and they had some magic lineal Sayamaist exchanges throughout. Their work together was the slowest of the match, but it absolutely worked with both guys being really deliberate and fighting for all their holds. Even with noting how slow they worked though, Rider served as the pace-setter for this match by rushing Ni Hao with an insane running Rider Kick right when the bell rang (shown below) before just flinging himself out of the ring with a huge suicide dive. Their work against other wrestlers was really cool too, with Ni Hao busting out a huge waterwheel drop on Nishino and Rider having some pretty awesome exchanges with Toba.

    Toba and Sasaki were the perfect asskickers to put with Ni Hao to build a total monster team. Toba was sadly not in the match as much as you'd hope, but he always made the most of his time, peppering guys with nasty punches and throwing cracking kicks. His aforementioned work with Rider was really cool, and he also got a nice moment with Nishino where Nishino just ate all of Toba's strikes before getting nearly knocked out cold by a brutal right hook. Sasaki was also on point here, coming in and throwing mean kicks while also dropping dudes on their heads with big lariats and a dangerous D-Geist. This team even had some really nice chemistry as a unit, doing some awesome combos including this one where Sasaki and Toba each threw a stiff as hell shot before Ni Hao dropped Cougar on his head with a german suplex:

    Nishino and Cougar both did some really immense stuff in this match as well. Nishino came into this match painfully aware of the asskicking he was gonna get from the Ni Hao/Toba/Sasaki trio, and decided to make sure he got his own licks in, throwing some thunderous chops and busting out a few huge moves like a perfect powerslam he hit on Ni Hao. He even got this really awesome hulk-up moment with the trio were all beating down on him, throwing those gross chops of his at Ni Hao and Sasaki before smashing Toba with a brutal headbutt. Cougar wasn't as much of an asskicker as the other five in this match, but he still held his own with some truly awe-inspiring spots. Cougar is, in my opinion, probably one of the best "spots" guys ever, tending to work matches focused entirely on pulling off the Cougar classics, but making sure every time to integrate them into the match as smoothly and naturally as possible. There were slingshot leg drops galore, and every single one of them fucking rocked, especially the ludicrous one he hit on Sasaki while Nishino had him held over the top rope. Cougar's moves outside of the slingshot leg drops rocked too, especially one amazing dive he hit on Sasaki. Really, he was the most dependable guy in the match when it came to doing crazy shit, and he did as much crazy shit as he could.

    In the end, Cougar missed a big diving headbutt on Sasaki, leading to a decapitating lariat from Sasaki getting the win for his team. As a whole, this match was great, just lots of smash-mouth wrestling and insane moments. There were absolutely some slight botches and a few moments of roughness, but none of it ever really detracted from the match. Only real point of criticism I can levy at this is that it made me sad that we never got a Ni Hao/Rider singles match in CAPTURE, as that would've probably been the perfect environment for them to do the gritty matwork and stiff striking they showed off here. Other than that, awesome stuff from early DDT, and a great showcase of the talents of all six guys involved.

Rating: A-

Super Rider vs. Junji.com (Battlarts 01/28/2001)

    Two years later, we are in Tokyo FM Hall for a B-Rule match between Rider and Junji.com (AKA Junji Inazuma AKA Mach Junji AKA Junji Tanaka). B-Rule is a pretty complex ruleset, with the wrestlers only being allowed to grapple while also sharing five rope breaks rather than having a set amount for each of them. Any time either of them uses a rope break, the overall amount of allowed breaks will go down (ex: one person grabbing the ropes twice and the other person grabbing them three times would result in all the rope breaks being used up). After five total breaks have occurred, the ref will no longer break up a hold when someone is in the ropes. If a match goes to a time limit draw, the winner is decided based on who grabbed the ropes the least amount of times, and if both are equal in rope usage, the loser is the one who grabbed the ropes first. This probably seems overly complicated (it is), but it's resulted in some really awesome and creative spots before, so I personally enjoy the ruleset a good deal.

    This, of course, ended up being a very cool little match, with Junji and Rider approaching the match with pretty differing ideologies on grappling. Junji primarily utilized his speed rigid technique to constantly hunt for holds he knew how to apply, using more basic holds like cross armbars and rear naked chokes that he could confidently execute without having to worry about spending too much time thinking about the hold. Meanwhile, Rider was all about fluidity and slick movement on the mat, looking out for stray limbs to latch onto and transitioning between holds to find the right way to apply the most amount of pain. 

    Outside of solely the grappling, there were some really interesting story beats primarily based around Rider and his aggressive style of working. At multiple points, Rider had to fight back his instincts telling him to throw punches or kicks (with the ref having to remind Rider over and over again that this wasn't under Seikendo rules), and a few times, Rider took a little long to let go of holds when Junji had a rope break. This culminated pretty well when Rider took a few extra seconds to let go of a kneebar, and in response, Junji busted out a lightning-fast kneebar of his own immediately after, forcing Rider to go straight for the ropes.

    It wasn't long after this though that Rider put on a deep STF, forcing Junji to use the final rope break in the match. Both men kept the intensity up as they approached the ending stretch, and Junji got his own chance to do some creative work, using the ropes to pull himself up while Rider had him in a kneebar and gain enough leverage to apply a tight cross heel hold. Rider would get revenge for this however, as when Junji had him in a front necklock soon after this, Rider kicked himself off of one of the corners, breaking the necklock by slamming down Junji hard. Without hesitation, Rider pounced on him and got a perfect cross armbar in for the tapout victory.

    I thought this was really good for what it was. It never entered into full-on great territory for me, but instead stayed at a very solid level of quality before finishing with a fun and well-built ending. Grappling matches like this are definitely an acquired taste, but if you're able to ride along for pure matwork and drama derived from holds and transitions, then you'll probably enjoy this match too.

Rating: B+

Super Rider & Tiger Shark vs. Hideki Hosaka & Kazuhiko Matsuzaki (RJPW 12/07/2012)

    Back to normal pro wrestling, we are now 11 years older and in the midst of WAR~! For god knows how long, Sayama and Atsushi Onita have been leading their armies into bloody and violent conflict (a lot of multi-man tag matches), and of course, first lieutenant Super Rider is here to fight on the front lines. He's teaming with favorite of the blog and fellow Seikendo trainee Tiger Shark against Hideki Hosaka and Kazuhiko Matsuzaki. Hosaka is really just a wrestler that exists, a solid enough worker who has never really inspired any strong feelings in me. Matsuzaki meanwhile is  one of the most consistently great indie guys of the last 30 years. With pro wrestling training under Ryuma Go and karate training under Masashi Aoyagi, he's been practically built to be one of the best sleaze indie guys in the world, and getting to see him at any point is always a treat.

    Once again, Rider delivers a fun enough match. The invader army of Hosaka and Matsuzaki were pretty cool here, mainly Matsuzaki. He was throwing some really nice worked punches and when he got to do some offense he busted out some great shit like his signature flying neckbreaker drop and the beautiful backdrop suplex shown below. Hosaka was mostly nothing here as always, but he did at least have one very fun moment where he stopped a pinfall attempt by attacking the referee. Dumb shit like that just appeals to me a lot, I don't know what else to say. 

    The real stars here were Shark and Rider though. Tiger Shark was really able to step up in this match and was honestly borderline great, especially in the ending stretch. He threw hard kicks, pulled off some really nice big moves like a weird snap side powerslam and a mean tombstone piledriver, and the moonsault he hit on Matsuzaki was an absolute thing of beauty. That moonsault led directly into the finish too, as when Matsuzaki kicked out, Shark immediately grabbed his arm and locked in the always awesome Shark Death By Lock II to get the win for team Real Japan.

Nearly 13 years to the day, Rider once again started the match with an insane suicide dive, this one being even crazier than the one he hit on Ni Hao as he actually flew over the guardrail and into the crowd. The Super Rider suicide dive is slowly becoming one of my favorite dives ever because this guy really throws himself out of the ring like he has a death wish. While Rider mostly stuck to busting out the classics like the Rider flying cross chop, Rider flipping senton, and Rider elbow drop, the Rider classics are my jam so I was having the time of my life. Plus, he hit another suicide dive later on in the match. This man was 50 years old busting out planchas for fun. Absolute legend.

    This match wasn't some incredible epic or anything like that. It was a throwaway midcard tag match on a throwaway Real Japan show (and Real Japan itself is a throwaway promotion). However, there was still some really fun stuff going on here, and the ending stretch between Shark and Matsuzaki was awesome. Plus, two different Super Rider suicide dives. What more can you ask for?

Rating: B

SHARK WEEK! #1: Tiger Shark

               (Written by jom)

    Guys, gals, and non-binary pals, welcome to one of the greatest international holidays in the history of international holidays. A celebration so sweet they made it a week. That's right baby, it's Shark Week! A week to enjoy the most dangerous yet most beloved aquatic animal, with great program's such as "Air Jaws: Top Guns", "Rise of the Monster Hammerheads", and of course, the always lauded "Shark Women: Ghosted by Great Whites". Hell, this year's festivities are even being hosted by legendary IWA PR alumni, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson! However, with all these wonderful TV programs being hosted by a former professional wrestler, I got to thinking about something that has always been in the back of my head: "why doesn't anyone celebrate the greatest sharks in wrestling?". Well, I now have something of a platform, so if nobody else will, why don't I?

    For the next week, I'll be posting not one, not two, not four, but THREE different articles speaking the good word of three different professional wrestling sharks. And if we're gonna be spending a whole week talking about them, why don't we start with one with some real legacy? In comes Tiger Shark, evil nemesis to Super Tiger and RJPW's resident shark-themed Sayama trainee. No ifs, ands, or buts about it, this guy just rocks. He feels like he's way more of a protege of Sayama than any of the other tigers, regularly busting out both stiff strikes and impressive aerial maneuvers. While nowadays he's abandoned the Tiger aspect entirely and set on his own as Blue Shark, we'll only be looking at some of his work as Tiger Shark in this post. Now, on with the article~!

Tiger Shark vs. Ryuji Walter (BattlArts 08/30/2009)

    This is just such a kick-ass match on paper. I've already talked about how much Shark rules, but as I've been consuming more and more of reborn BattlArts, I've come to realize just how based Ryuji Walter is. He's a tubby shooter wearing a singlet, kickpads, and MMA gloves, with all three being in black and silver, which is just a really awesome color combo. He also has a really interesting story as a wrestler too, as he was raised in the United States and became a bouncer, before training under Boris Malenko and working the low American independents. Eventually, George King (a fellow indy worker who had gotten opportunities to wrestle in Battlarts previously) introduced Walter to Ishikawa, resulting in Walter returning to Japan and becoming a member of the promotion. He also booked some crazy produce shows, so Ryuji Walter, if you somehow end up reading this, please DM me on Twitter so I can pay you a lot of money to watch them.

    Ryuji Walter, similar to his gear, was pretty damn sweet in this match. He had some awesome pro-wrestling type stuff mixed into his shoot style stuff, like countering a takedown with a DDT or hitting a real nice vertical suplex. The best contributions he made to the match were, of course, his punches. He really laid them in like he always did, throwing them at Shark's chin like there was a big target painted on it. He also really peppered them whenever he could, throwing one or two almost always when he was on the ground with Shark. Probably my favorite moment during the match was when Walter, sick of Shark's many kick combos throughout the match, just went full-on braindead mode, completely shrugging off some middle kicks to fire off punches with such force that he fell over from swinging too wildly. That type of "no thought only punch" type of violence is just sorely missing in today's wrestling.

    Shark also did really damn good in this match, albeit maybe not as good as Walter. He threw some great kicks as he always does, and his own pro wrestling spots were solid (except for one elbow drop which just absolutely whiffed). His tombstone is absolutely horrifying too, so seeing him bust it out here was pretty great. He did kinda slow the match down a couple times with middling mat work, but he was competent enough to never completely shut the match's momentum off, and when he would get into a hot streak or pop off a counter it was always really awesome to see.

    Overall, this was pretty awesome in parts, but as a whole did lack some of the solid connective tissue needed to elevate this to greatness. That being said, it clearly showed that both guys were pretty sweet in this style, and a Ryuji Walter "comprehensive" series may or may not be appearing in the future.

Rating: B

Tiger Shark vs. Hikaru Sato (RJPW 09/08/2010)

    Sato is Minoru Suzuki's sole protege and he's pretty damn solid. He's got some good kicks and while in 2022 he has some aspects of his work I definitely do not like (the drunk selling on every single strike can take a fucking walk), at this point he's pretty much a pure MMA crossover type wrestler.

    Shark did pretty solid in this match just like the last one. He integrated more pro wrestling into his moves this time, such as hitting his honestly horrendous standing moonsault (even though it's ugly as hell I still love it for some reason). His kicks were on point and his grappling was better than the last match, although not too much better. Probably the best moment he had all match was this awesome sequence into the Shark Death by Lock:

    Sato also did well here. Honestly it's hard to elaborate more than that, he just did pretty well. His kicks were solid, his grappling was fine, and he did have a pretty cool spot of transitioning an ankle lock into a backdrop. He didn't do anything that really wow'd me besides that, but he never did anything that really hurt the match either.

    I feel like this definitely wasn't as good as the previous match, although it was still solid stuff. Everything they did came off mostly good, it was just a case of neither guy doing too much that I could call great or anything.

Rating: B-

Tiger Shark vs. SEIKEN (Battlarts 05/22/2011)

    Back to Battlarts, this time to see Shark take on SEIKEN. SEIKEN is a guy that, from some research I've done previously, seems to have been a member of B-CLUB (the Battlarts amateur wrestling club) before transferring into Seikendo. I've seen him in a match against Kengo Mashimo in FUTEN where he impressed me greatly, so coming into this I had some level of high hopes for the match.

    This was probably Shark's best performance yet. He threw kicks harder in this match than he did in any other, and he felt a lot more aggressive and violent overall, really taking it to SEIKEN throughout the match. He also pulled off his pro wrestling stuff better than he did in the Walter match, hitting one of the best standing moonsaults I've ever seen him hit, as well as a disgusting corner dropkick. Probably the best thing he did in the match was this axe kick though, which absolutely destroyed SEIKEN:

    SEIKEN meanwhile fucking ruled, throwing kicks that were even harder than Shark's and fighting in such a scrappy and hard way. He did some really awesome stuff in this match, like throwing headbutts at Shark's midsection while mounted and basically just button mashing his strikes whenever he could get even the slightest opportunity to go on the offensive. His stuff in the finishing stretch of the match was awesome too.

    This was just a fun, short, intense shoot brawl between two Seikendo trainees. Definitely Shark's best work from the three matches I went over, and hopefully I'll be able to talk more about SEIKEN on the blog eventually. 

Rating: B+

Comprehensive Super Rider #2

              (Written by jom)

Super Rider & Super Uchuu Power vs. Kazushige Nosawa & Sanshiro Takagi (DDT 03/25/1997)

    This is the main event of DDT's "Prelaunch Battle", which basically means the show was meant to be a preview of what people could expect from DDT once it officially launches. Starting your promotion with two of the founders taking on shoot style spacemen is truly next level wrestlebrain, so it isn't shocking Takagi has been able to grow DDT into being the possible #2 most popular promotion in Japan.

    Takagi and Nosawa were pretty sweet here, both were really energized and constantly fighting Uchuu and Rider in really scrappy ways. Both guys were throwing some hard dropkicks all throughout the match, especially Nosawa who threw a really gross one especially at Uchuu to break up a submission. Takagi meanwhile was already very clearly the top guy in the promotion, with everyone chanting his name and some big comeback spots towards the end, peaking with this beauty of a tornado DDT:

    Super Uchuu Power (Koichiro Kimura) was undoubtedly the star of the show. He was an absolute killer here, doling out some nutty strikes and hitting insane slams. He was lariating Nosawa and Takagi like they owed him money, and the way he treated Nosawa especially was borderline hard to watch, constantly destroying him with crazy moves like a double tombstone piledriver. The nastiest thing he did to him though had to be the powerbomb shown below, the bounce that Nosawa got off of being slammed onto the mat was horrifying.

    While Rider wasn't able to perform at the same level Power did, he more than held up his portions of the match, dishing out some great kicks and cool pro wrestling spots. His kicks especially were pretty awesome, doing some great jumping rolling solebutts and at one point accidentally hitting Power with a great Rider kick.

    The overall match did have some iffy pacing and the extended length of it led to some spots that felt like they were almost repeating, but overall this was a damn cool fight. In terms of history, this match is extremely important too, as it set the stage for the first few years of life for the eventual juggernaut that is DDT, so on that front it's definitely worth checking out.

Rating: B+

Super Rider vs. Takeshi Ono (BattlArts 06/02/2001)

    This is a rematch to the Korakuen match reviewed previously on the blog. Last time, I thought that while a good amount of the work was really awesome, some iffy pacing and the lack of interest from the crowd left me somewhat disappointed in the final product. Hopefully, now that they've gotten some more experience working together, those problems will be alleviated and they'll pull off the match I know they can.

    Takeshi Ono was, in a sense, pure Takeshi Ono here. He did the usual awesome strikes, slick grappling, and great selling, all at the usual high level he did it at. This was also a great piece of evidence to support my belief that Ono is maybe one of the greatest "targeting" wrestlers of all time. When Ono picks a spot of the body to go after during a match, he's truly vicious as hell, and in this match he totally wrecked Rider's leg, with tons of gross kicks and submissions that honestly shock me didn't actually fuck up Rider's leg.

    Super Rider was going pretty damn crazy in this match too though. He met Ono on the mat with some superb grappling, doing some awesome submissions like one particular counter into an armbar. He also brought the goods with striking, at one point throwing a real sick high kick that Ono sold like death. While he didn't have as many high spot type moments as Ono, the stuff he provided helped keep the match's intensity at a level not at all seen in the previous match they had.

    This match was kind of insane, because somehow, the crowd was even less interested during this one than the Korakuen one. However, even accounting for the near silence during the match, this fucking rocked. While the last match they had was more of a fun creative juniors type match with bomb segments and more emphasis on spots, this was just a total grappling fest while still retaining the creativity of the last match. The late match bomb throwing was amazing too, and my god the actual finish ruled. It even only went about 7 minutes, so genuinely, go out of your way to see this.

Rating: A-

Super Rider vs. Tomohiro Ishii (RJPW 03/01/2009)

    This match was brought on by GBH member Ishii seemingly laying out a challenge to Rider. Ishii needs little to no introduction, around this point he was no longer the sleazy indy guy that Rider had previously faced in 2000, but instead a full-on NJPW roster member. Whether or not that made him better or worse is up to your interpretation (it made him worse).

    Ishii was a solid bruiser in this match, doing a ton of heel type work. He threw Rider around outside and hit him with chairs, and he took cheapshots whenever he could. He didn't really do anything particularly special, but he was entirely competent in the role he played and he did throw this killer lariat:

    Rider was totally off the bean in this match though. He started out doing his usual stuff but as the match went on he got progressively more angry and more aggressive, eventually busting out full-on shoot headbutts. The big turning point was when Ishii had manhandled him on the outside some, and Rider decided "fuck this", whipped his shirt off, and started throwing closed fists at Ishii's midsection. Getting this level of violence from Rider wasn't easy at this point, so it was awesome to see him get this pumped up.

    Eventually, the match ended in a DQ after Ishii ripped off Rider's mask, leading to Rider putting on his old Hopper King mask and brawling around with Ishii for a couple more minutes. Overall, this had some pretty awesome moments but did leave me wanting more. Sadly, the GBH invasion would go nowhere after this (mainly because GBH practically died a month later) so we never ended up seeing a rematch between the two, but what we got was solid enough.

Rating: B 

Comprehensive Super Rider #1

              (Written by jom)

Hopper King & Hiroshi Shimada vs. Black Hole 1 & 2 (IWA Kakuto Shijuku 05/14/1995)

    We're starting off where every great article should start off, with a match in the Yong Dong Village food market. Hopper is teaming with big guy Shimada who I'm a fan of, and they're taking on one of my favorite acts on the sleaze scene, the Black Holes. I have no idea who Black Hole 2 is and can't even begin to throw out some guesses, but I'm fairly certain Black Hole 1 is the same Black Hole previously talked on the blog in that amazing shoot style tag match from the West Japan korakuen show (this Black Hole may or may not have gone on to become Eagle Pro's Super Judist but you didn't hear it from me).

    Going into the match, I had a pretty strong idea of how it was going to play out. Hopper would throw his strikes as much as he could while the Black Holes would respond with brute force and absolute mass to crush him. I'm starting to get good at predicting how matches go because within the first minute this exchange happened, proving my idea entirely:

    This is how the match mostly went for its sub-10 minute runtime. Hopper was pretty sweet here, throwing some thudding kicks and did all his pro wrestling type stuff really well, even hitting an awesome Rider Kick towards the end. He also was somehow able to do a little grappling on the big man. Notice I said man, because Black Hole 2 is in the ring for maybe a full minute. I'm sure he was in for longer and those moments were just clipped out, but this was entirely about Hopper and Shimada taking on the original Black Hole. A very good thing in my opinion, because the original Black Hole rules, throwing big man clubs and judo throws like there's no tomorrow.

    Shimada more than held his own end of the match too. He was able to do some solid stuff with the biggest highlight being hitting this genuinely disgusting senton, the way he landed made it look like all of his weight fell on only the right half of Black Hole, probably crushing all the ribs on that side. The match's finishing stretch wasn't anything special but it didn't feel out of place or rushed either. Overall a pretty solid affair, with the three people that mattered getting to do some cool spots, but nothing that'll blow your mind.

Rating: B

Super Rider vs. Takeshi Ono (BattlArts 01/07/2001)

    Ono is one of my favorite BattlArts guys, as pretty much all of them had one defining trait and Ono's was closed fist punching. Just wanna say before the match even starts, Rider is his Hopper King gear of red pants and a red Super Tiger Gym shirt, so he's going full throwback for this one. Ono meanwhile is wearing his awesome trench coat, although he doesn't have the cybergoth mask he work in like 99, so his look doesn't feel entirely complete here.

    Contrary to his attire choice, Ono was in prime form wrestling-wise here, fully committed to punching Rider in the face and kicking him in the balls. He busts out some awesome punch combos throughout the match, as well as doing a couple really creative sequences like hitting a snap suplex before immediately flowing into a gnarly handstand kneedrop straight to Rider's face. One of my favorite moments from him comes early in the match, with Ono just countering Rider's attempt at a waistlock by kicking him directly in the nuts and slapping on a deep manjigatame.

    Super Rider, honestly, wasn't at the same level as Ono here, but he was definitely at a high enough level to warrant appreciation. A lot of his kicks had that same thudding impact he's had his entire career, and he also busted out a little cool grappling like transitioning a crossface chickenwing into a slick backslide. Some of his spots down the line did kinda drag and get sloppy, but he recovered for the most part in that area just by hitting this insane German suplex:

    The finish sadly did feel a little rushed, and the crowd was never really into the match either. This was 2001 BattlArts so that's not an uncommon occurrence for any match that's not the main event, but it definitely didn't help this match in any way. Somewhat disappointing considering the unrealistic standard I probably came in with, but there were enough cool moments between the two that it's totally worth checking out if you're already a fan of either guy.

Rating: B

Super Rider & Yuko Miyamoto vs. Takafumi Ito & TORU (SSPW 07/29/2021)

    We have arrived to 2021, and Rider's final match in SSPW as of this post. All three other guys in this match I'm a fan of. Miyamoto is genuinely one of the best wrestlers of his generation, consistently putting in amazing performances no matter if he's in a normal match or a deathmatch. Takafumi Ito is really damn good and has been enjoying a very fun late-career revival recently. TORU is one of Tenryu's chosen ones in Tenryu Project and he absolutely deserves the credit Tenryu has given him because he's extremely talented in the ring.

    It's crazy that I said all that shit about Rider being old and near retirement because he and Takafumi Ito started this match off with some absolutely awesome grappling. The guys on commentary said "Shooto vs. Pancrase" and just hearing that definitely added some level of authenticity to everything happening, with both guys going back and forth with holds in a really smooth yet competitive way.

    TORU and Yuko Miyamoto more than held up their ends of the match as well. TORU didn't get a ton to do here but was able to hit his beauty of a dropkick. Miyamoto meanwhile had some awesome grappling and working moments on TORU, and even pulled out a pretty sweet handspring backflip kick instead of his usual handspring elbow. Takafumi Ito was probably the best guy in the match though, throwing hard strikes and doing tight grappling as seen above, as well as hitting his great uranage as seen below:

    The finish came soon after this, but I do just want to say that Super Rider's Rider Kick is still solid as hell. It's genuinely shocking to me that he was able to pull it out at 58 and still make it look pretty damn sweet.

    Overall, this match was some fun stuff. Rider and Ito's interactions were genuinely really enjoyable, and TORU and Miyamoto helped to keep the match flowing when the older guys needed to take a breather. A worthwhile early card match and proof that Rider still has some solid work left in him.

Rating: B

Run it Back: Yuki Ishikawa/Takeshi Ono vs. Daisuke Ikeda/Katsumi Usuda

    (Written by Jom)

       The rematch is a concept very fondly thought of in pro wrestling. I mean, of course it is. Unless you're some weird masochist (or enjoy the z movies of pro wrestling rather than the blockbusters), a good match is pretty much all the average fan can ask for. Then you announce that said good match will be done a 2nd time? How much more excited can I get?! While pretty much every rematch is enjoyable because who doesn't like a good continued saga, there comes a certain extra level of happiness when that sequel has had a long period between it and the original contest. These rematches allow the original match to age like a fine wine, meaning when you finally uncork the chemistry and history for the rematch, it feels that much more refined and exquisite.

    ...Having said all that, this is professional wrestling, and this blog has a propensity towards headbutts and shoot punches. Comparing these matches to fine wine just feels wrong. Speaking of headbutts and shoot punches, today I’ll be watching one of these match and long-awaited rematch combinations, as four of BattlArts’ greats battle it out in tag matches spanning from 90s BattlArts to 10s FUTEN.

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

FU-TEN 12/19/10

    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-

The Urban Ken Archive #2

(Written by yeelord)

    And we're back! I've watched another three Urban Ken matches and oh boy, these are some banger matchups! Unfortunately I can only provide one link as the other two are confidential. I think you'll enjoy the link I have provided though, as it's certainly a must-watch matchup.

    At this point in Kenny's career, he's made quite the name for himself, and it shows in how much he shines at this point. He's a very simple, yet very exciting wrestler that's worth all of your time! With this said, let's get into the matches

Daijiro Matsui vs. Urban Ken (BattlARTS: Nov. 26, 2000) Watch

   It's the battle of the matching gears as PRIDE's (and Takada Dojo's) own Daijiro Matsui takes on our boy who's sporting some new gear! The new gear won't last long, which is a shame as I kind of prefer it over his longer trunks. Ken has packed a lot more energy on this night and it shows as soon as the bell rings. 

    Yes, Urban Ken just speared Daijiro fucking Matsui across the damn ring... and it really sets the pace for this match. The only time this match slows down is when Daijiro leaves the ring to catch a breath. Even then, he teep kicks Ikuto Hidaka for no apparent reason other than because he can! Daijiro proved that he can be a menace if you try to take things on the mat throwing punch after punch. The ref has to separate him but he wouldn't comply. Ken does his usual schtick but Daijiro was quick to adapt to all of it. Quickly he applies a beautiful Rear Naked Choke to Ken which forces the tap out. Absolutely gloriously booked matchup in which both men got both of their shit in, it was back and forth up until the end, and had everything I could ever ask for in a match. Wondering how long this match went? 4:50. Four minutes, fifty seconds. This is quite possibly the best sub-five minute match in wrestling history. Go check this out right now!

Rating: 9/10 (Amazing) 

Alexander Otsuka vs. Urban Ken (BattlARTS: Dec. 3, 2000)

    Huge match for Kenny! He's going up against one of what I call the "Big Three of BattlARTS". The other two being Yuki Ishikawa and Daisuke Ikeda. Yes, I'm aware Ikeda was in NOAH at this point, but still. Anyway, this match went nothing like I had expected it to go. In fact, KENNY is the one who dominates this match! Yes! Almost the entire match is just Kenny showing us why he was an absolute unit not to be underestimated. Unfortunately for Otsuka, that's what he had done, underestimated. For about 5 minutes straight Ken is just giving everything to Otsuka. All of his signatures were in play here. That is until Otsuka thought to himself "Wait, what the hell am I doing?" and bonks Ken with a headbutt, sending him crashing to the mat. Otsuka had taken back his ring, locking Ken in a brutal looking half crab. Not too long afterwards Otsuka made Ken tap. Loved this match, especially when you're doing this specifically to watch Ken. This is a great match if you want to get a feel for Ken's moveset, I recommend checking this match out if you know where to find it

Rating: 7/10 (Great step in Ken's short career)

Hisakatsu Oya vs. Urban Ken (FMW: Feb. 23, 2001)

    Wait, FMW? Yes, Urban Ken had only worked 2 more matches for BattlARTS before going out on his own for a little bit before retiring. He did a few dates for Big Japan Pro Wrestling before making his way to FMW where he worked the entire Winning Road 2001 tour. Before then, he made his debut here at the very last day of the Cluster Battle 2001 tour taking on fellow matwork hero Hisakatsu Oya. The commentators are shocked at the arrival, surprisingly enough and Kenny's even sporting some new ring gear; a Dog Collar with a very long chain, classic.

    Onto the match... I don't really have to say about it. It was very back and forth and submission heavy. They didn't do much else besides trade submissions. I'll admit it got a bit boring after a while until Ken decided that he had enough of that and starting doing his slaps and spears. That didn't last very long either as Oya had caught him with a beautiful Backdrop for the three count. Slow, a bit boring in the beginning, but toward the end Ken had picked up the pace. Decent enough match if you love slow wrestling, though!

Rating: 6/10 (Very slow for the first 5 minutes)

    

The Urban Ken Archive #1

 (Written by yeelord)

    If you've never heard of Urban Ken, I don't blame you. his career only spanned a little under 2 years (1999-2001) and he was incredibly outshined by the rising stars of BattlARTS. However, even though he didn't do anything of note, that's not to take away from his wrestling ability. In fact, he's one of the most underrated wrestlers of BattlARTS' long history. In this post I'll be reviewing EVERY SINGLE match of his that were taped.

Ryuji Hijikata vs. Kenny (May ??, 2000)

    I might as well zip past this one since I had just saw that this was taped as I was typing the introduction. Samurai only gave us about 30 seconds of this match but it well showcased the future Urban Ken. He scored a good takedown on Hijikata before securing the Cross Armbar victory!

Rating - ??/10 (Too clipped to rate)

Takeshi Ono/Ryuji Hijikata vs. junji.com/Urban Ken (Sep. 7, 2000)

    This was a very fun, quick matchup packed with a lot of heat behind it for no reason other than because it's BattlARTS. Ono and Hijikata bring in their striking game and proves to serve them well against the two. Our boy Urban Ken is still sticking with his quick and great mat-work offense, putting in hold after hold. lots of great tag team moves being done here. With all that being said there, they might have been working a bit too fast for their own good as there were a couple moves being sloppily thrown together. Fortunately, that doesn't take away how good this match was though. Very tough to think that all 4 of these guys would have a very "under the radar" future ahead of them...

Rating - 7/10 (Very fun match!)

Naoki Sano/Naoyuki Taira vs. Katsumi Usuda/Urban Ken (Sep. 10, 2000)

    20 minute Urban Ken match, oh boy! Can't wait to watch 20 minutes of Urban Ken kicking ass? well... you're not going to get that. You see, this is one of those matches were somebody has to take the bulk of the damage, and unfortunately for us, it's the smallest man in the match Urban Ken. He has slight bursts of offense here and there. Mainly busting out his signatures (The Spear, Slaps, and the occasional Headbutt) but for the most part, he's getting the ever loving piss beaten out of him. The rest of the match is good, specifically Taira's flashy kicks and good slams (His background is Shootboxing). Usuda is a killer as per usual. And Sano brings in the more traditional Pro-Wrestling into the mix. The match ends with Sano making Kenny tap to a Boston Crab, the ol' "Young Boy Finish". All in all, it's genuinely a great match and worth your time if you need 22 minutes to kill.

Rating - 7/10 (Great match)