[2000-09-07-BattlARTS] Yuki Ishikawa & Carl Malenko vs Kazunari Murakami & Naoyuki Taira

[soup23]

What a fucking awesome match. Murakami and Ishikawa have a death stare at the onset and that sets the tone for the match overall. The match completely breaks down mid way through with Ishikawa and Murakami fighting to the outside and flying through the chairs at ringside and people fleeing. Murakami throws his mouthguard at Ishikawa. Beyond that, Malenko and Taira also add a ton of neat stuff. I am really on board with Taira as here he throws in his kicks and also is in great position for his submissions. Malenko of course has some tricked out arm work and the ending submission looked awesome and stretched Taira’s arm to a near 90 degree angle. Overall, a ton of hate and one of the better shoot style tag matches I have ever seen. ****1/4 (8.4)

[Edwin]

This is all about Murakami vs. Ishikawa as it was back in March tag match with Sano and Otsuka now being replaced with Taira and Malenko who're a much better fit.This is mostly worked as Ishikawa vs. Murakami and Malenko vs. Taira.

 

There's a lot of good stuff here such as:

• Kicking it off with Ishikawa tossing Murakami.
• The hate Ishikawa and Murakami bring.
• Murakami kicking Ishikawa outside of the ring after he's used the ring apron as a escape.
• Them blasting each other on the outside.
• Ishikawa blasting Murakami in the face from on guard.
• Murakami blasting Ishikawa back in the face from the bottom.
• Ishikawa tricking Murakami to follow him to the ring apron so he can catch one of his punches and hit an armbreaker on him.

Malenko and Taira bring it here too, but they're just mostly here for the ride even though Taira has dropped the long Shoot boxing trunks and has adapted some flashier kicks which he uses to blast Malenko with here.

 

That finish was beautiful. Malenko locks Taira in a LeBell Lock while Murakami and Ishikawa stare off before they begin throwing down again.

What a beautiful thing!

 

****1/4

[superkix]

The disdain between Ishikawa and Murakami permeates throughout the whole match, whereas Malenko and Taira are, more or less, left to their own devices, even into the finish, where Malenko has Taira in the crossface hold and Murakami's more concerned with staring down Ishikawa then breaking up the submission. Murakami promptly jumping Ishikawa at the start of the match and Ishikawa catches him with the deadlift German was great. The work on the mat between them is aggressive, with Ishikawa clawing Murakami's face when he tries to block the headbutts. The stuff between Taira and Malenko was a lot of fun, with Malenko showing off with takedowns and transitions, and Taira blasting him with knees and kicks for knockdowns. One thing I really like about Malenko is the way he sinks into submission holds. The outside stuff between Ishikawa and Murakami ruled -- I mean, Murakami hunking his mouthguard at Ishikawa, come on. And in the end, they're too busy mean mugging each other to care about Malenko's sweet submission finish. Lots to love on here.

[ohtani's jacket]

This was tremendous. I've been waiting for something to light a fire under Ishikawa and Murakami is just the punk to do it. Normally, I'd hate a shoot style match where there's crowd brawling but this was sweet. Hey, like Ishikawa said afterward, Murakami is a "fucking crazy fighter." Carl Malenko and Taira pretty much have a match on their own but their work is equally sweet. I love how Malenko doesn't have a clue what's going on between Ishikawa and Murakami but keeps doing the only thing he knows how and that's fight. Great show from BattlARTs. Topped anything they'd done since the 1999 Ishikawa vs. Ikeda fight.

[AstroBoy]

The intensity between Ishikawa and Murakami ruled and their brawling sections really felt unhinged and fantastic. Ishikawa almost smiling at Murakami and then just throwing him through rows of chairs was a great moment. Murakami hulking up from the bottom was also great and he really laid it in giving it back. Malenko is really a joy to watch and I loved his rolling with Taira. Malenko gets a submission to cap a nice struggle and Ishikawa and Murakami just stare at each other before going nuts once again. Really good tag match.

 

***3/4