[1998-10-05-BattlARTS-B Cup] Yuki Ishikawa vs Mitsuhiro Matsunaga

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

This is like an Abdullah the Butcher match happening in BattlARTS with Matsunaga hiding a pencil from the referee and stabbing Ishikawa with it every chance he gets. I didn't really care for this at all, mainly because this was very not BattlARTS. Maybe it would be fine as a random AJ undercard match from the late 70s or early 80s. Ishikawa showed great passion with the KO finish, but there's a time and place for everything, and I don't really want this in my BattlARTS.

[soup23]

This was charming in some ways to me but it didn't have a lot of meat to it. Essentially it is Matsunaga using his tricks in a Battlarts environment, then getting stopped by Ishikawa. it does seem odd but I find it as a decent change of pace. (**1/4)

[PeteF3]

Best BattlArts match ever and fuck anyone who disagrees. This is worked as a total Inoki-Singh tribute, with both guys doing all of their respective signature spots, but done with about a million times more panache and urgency. Ishikawa gets his comeback and pounds Matsunaga into dust before this can wear out its welcome. A million billion stars, minus one or two because of Matsunaga not even trying to hide his little stabby thing from the ref.

[Bierschwale]

The Bed of Nails match is also incredibly weird and equally great & terrible.