Battlarts: Matches of the Year

So, I'm starting to finalise my match of the year ballot for the DVDVR poll, and I've been watching and rewatching all the Battlarts candidates today. A lot of my top 20 ballot will be Battlarts matches, at least five, maybe seven. Nothing is moving the six man tag from the top of the list. I may have enjoyed at least one match more (the Z1 tag title match, such is my love of Hidaka), but I don't think anything is better (you see how that distinction works, one being subjective and visceral, the other being objective and analytical?). The 45 minutes of cumulative violence and the individual performances which all introduce new elements into the mix - Sawa as the youthful energetic junior, first to be eliminated, Otsuka working in crazy submissions and huge headrop suplexes, Ikeda dicking it up on the apron for ages, and he and Ishikawa's final brutal exchanges. Completely unique, and deserving of all the accolades. I didn't rewatch Usuda vs. Yano - it will probably make the bottom of my ballot. A very simple match, but very well executed, and notable for some excellent stuff on the mat (which I assume Usuda led) and an absolutely brutal finish. I mean, just sickening.

So, what else is there? Well, first I watched two Super Tiger singles matches back to back. The first is against Otsuka, and the second is against Ishikawa. First thing to note is that Super Tiger is a great striker, and is able on the mat, but he needs someone like Ishikawa or Otsuka to hold the thing together. Both matches feature really great selling performances, particularly from Ishikawa and Otsuka, though Super Tiger does nothing to hurt the match in that respect. Both guy's take some hideous strikes from Tiger, and give them the respect they deserve - Otsuka in particular hits the mat for a 7-count after the first spinning head kick about four minutes in, and never really regains the upperhand he had on the mat.

I really love Otsuka's amateur style matwork at the beginning - he finds all sorts of unlikely positions whilst looking for control. Compared to the Ishikawa match, the strikes aren't so nasty, though there are a couple of wild spinning kicks to Otsuka's head. I liked the boston crab spot as well. There's a really smart story of momentum on display here - Otsuka, the veteran, is utterly in control until Tiger hits some big strikes, then Otsuka spends the rest of the match surviving and trying to find bigger moves to get the win. Also, this plays off the July tag by mirroring Tiger's elimination in that.

The match is obviously a lot more pro-style than many Battlarts matches, in both moves and structure. The Ishikawa match, like many Battlarts matches, emphasises realism, the struggle, the back-and-forward combat until finally someone is too beat to continue. The Otsuka match has much more noticeable stages where one individual is in charge, especially after the opening mat section. The Ishikawa match is much more strike-based - there is a bunch of knees and a front kick to Ishikawa's (unprotected) face that are pretty disgusting, but although Ishikawa takes a larger quantity of nasty stuff than Otsuka, I find it hard to say I prefer one selling performance over the other. This match will make my final list, but it won't beat the Otsuka one.
Next, I watch Ishikawa versus Carl Greco. This match fought entirely on the mat through holds, counters and submission. What's really incredible to me is that its still felt like a pro-wrestling match - the holds and counters and transitions are perhaps smoother than in a real submission fight, and there is constant motion and small details in each one. Greco is maybe slightly more technically skilled, but Ishikawa isn't far behind. My favourite part was after the final voluntary ropebreaks, where each man basically said, let's find out who's best. There was an extra intensity (in an already intense and focused match) to the grappling, and some really amazing (and possibly even beautiful) sequences - Ishikawa's escape into the double leg grapevine was my favourite. Greco just found a way to get his killer hold (a nasty neck vice) in first. I placed this just after the above two singles, mainly because I really liked the overall performance in them - the selling and the psychology. The work in this though is a bit special.

Then I watched a few of tags. I thought the September Ishikawa tag wasn't the best I'd seen from any of the participants. Most of the match was Super Tiger and Otsuka working over Yoshikawa, and even by the end Ishikawa was kept out of it, so that the whole thing felt quite one-sided. Also, there wasn't as much from Otsuka that was noteworthy - they team looked dominant, but not in the most interesting way. Yoshikawa doesn't sell the whole thing as epically as his partner could, either.

The second tag was much better. Super Tiger and Hara have to work hard to force Sawa into selling during the heat section. It's only his tendency to pop up and hit a couple of his spots that drop this further down my list. The final section with Ishikawa and Tiger is spectacularly violent. I like how, one month after Ishikawa survived Super Tiger's strikes and found a way to victory, the finish to this is Super Tiger not letting up until Ishikawa isn't able to get back up again.

Then I rewatched the Zero-1 Light Heavyweight Tag title match, and I'm still convinced it comes in a number 2 on my list. Here again, the match takes on a more pro-style feel, with a structure that is similar to a lot of junior tags (especially the breakups of the nearfalls at the end), although an execution that is not. Hidaka, the only non-Battlarts guys in the match (anymore) looked excellent here, seeming perfectly comfortable with the style. I loved how he included a couple of his usual spots, but within the context of the match - the leg capture powerbomb to counter a series of stiff kicks, having Sawa restrain Yoshikawa in the corner before doing the cartwheel jumping kick. Some of Ishikawa and Hidaka's mat exchange were glorious, and I wished there were more stuff between them, as they match up really well - they are two guys that are excellent all-rounders.

There was a sizeable heat section on Yoshikawa, more based around focused leg attacks than striking or more opportunistic submission stuff, another noticeably pro-style feature. Ishikawa eventually tagged in, and apart from the great parts with Hidaka, I thought he had a nice bit with Sawa - especially the leglock where he kept rubbing his boot in Sawa's face, and some of the matwork that followed. The finish came down to Sawa and Yoshikawa striking it out until they had nothing left, while the partners prevented each other from breaking anything up. Sawa punches Yoshikawa straight in the face three times, which is the most violent thing I've ever seen him do, and locks in a octopus for the win (again, another pro-style spot incorporated into a Battlarts context).

I've got a few more Battlarts matches to watch, but I think those are the realistic match of the year contenders. The others are just for fun and Otsuka. Here's my Battlarts Match of the Year list:

1. Ishikawa/Sawa/Otsuka vs. Ikeda/Usuda/Super Tiger II, July 26th

2. Sawa/Hidaka vs. Ishikawa/Yoshikawa, August 31st

3. Super Tiger II vs. Alexander Otsuka, August 31st
4. Super Tiger II vs. Yuki Ishikawa, October 25th
5. Ishikawa vs. Greco, June 1st
6. Usuda vs. Yano, November 16th
7. Ishikawa/Sawa vs. Hara/Super Tiger II, November 16th
8. Ishikawa/Yoshikawa vs. Otsuka/Super Tiger II, September 21st