BattlArts: 5th July 2009

A new BattlArts show at last, courtesy of Lenny. Because they are a puroresu organisation, they are running a tournament this summer. Here's some matches.

Yamamoto vs. TAGAI was OK. The early matwork was decent. This is Yamamoto's match - TAGAI doesn't do much outside of his moves, while Yamamoto is selling and building up small themes. I like how Yamamoto sets up the finish by attempting earlier his big submission holds when he has opportunity - the leg bar, the jujigatame and the rear naked choke. His counterwork is really impressive. TAGAI is fine on the mat, but not very good when standing up - that corner clothesline was very weak. I loved the battle over the armbreaker at the end, with TAGAI blocking, and Yamamoto working out a way to leverage the block apart. I'm not the first to say it, but Yamamoto is where the future of BattlArts should lie, not the indy juniors they have.

The Ishikawa vs Walter match gives us a brilliant performance by Ishikawa to bring to bring the whole thing together. Walter's got stiff strikes, but it is apparent that he hasn't got much else. Opening few minutes have Walter punching and Ishikawa putting over how deadly they are. He targets Walter's arm - a minute or so later, Walter starts kicking, and Ishikawa (like a king) switches his submission attack to the leg immediately. It's stuff like that which convey a sense of strategy, and hence a story. As the match progresses, Walter's limited arsenal becomes his weakness, and Ishikawa takes control. You get the sense that Walter would have lost without the time limit. I really liked how Ishikawa conveys the struggle on the mat with the larger opponent - each counter or roll-through looks like hard work. Ishikawa is excellent at selling things like that. There are two hugely violent right hand from Walter which Ishikawa sells like gunshots, but the nastiest spot was the headbutts. The sound of the first one made me feel as little ill. Would have been really great if it wasn't such a one-man show. Walter seems to have no idea about allowing for underdog comeback spots, cutting several off with awkward transitions.

I liked the Sawa vs. Super Tiger match too - not as much as the Ishikawa match, but it built into a surprisingly good match. Sawa will still throw in a couple of his goofier spots, but he leaves it until later, and concentrates on striking and matwork, which he is good at. Super Tiger is someone I don't really like much outside of short bursts in tag, or opposite someone who can build a match around great selling of strikes. But I liked the way he let the balance shifted in this match. Super Tiger really puts over Sawa's comeback in the middle, and the match develops into a very even, pacy affair. I loved the finish - Super Tiger finally lands one of his big kicks, and he repeats this until Sawa can't answer the ten. Sawa looks strong in defeat, selling the strike but giving the crowd something to cheer for. Probably the best Sawa match I can think of.

Nothing high-end from this show, but these three matches are worthwhile.