[1999-12-25-BattlARTS] Takeshi Ono vs Ryuji Hijikata

[GOTNW]

Well I can add Takeshi Ono doing a springboard to the list of things I've seen in life. Pretty neat Ono carry job. Not that Hijikata was bad or anything but outside of doing Tenryu spots and working a little more pro style he didn't really leave that much of an impression. Literally the first spot in the match was Ono punching Hijikata straight in the face and knocking him down, you don't get a better hook than that. Ono's punching and kicking combinations ruled, his sliding kick in particular is something definitely worth stealing, incredibly unique and something that would look super efficient in a world where pro wrestling physics would be real. Ono's shaking his leg and trying to escape while in the Fisherman Buster ruled, those moments of struggle really make everything mean more. ***1/4-***1/2

[KB8]

Wonderful little ten minute scrap. Ono was fucking incredible in this, decking Hijikata in the first couple seconds with a straight right, unleashing hell with his strikes the whole way through, finding ways to escape whatever predicament Hijikata put him in to come back and drill him in the face. At a couple different points Hijikata left a limb dangling and Ono pounced on it, first tearing at the shoulder before moving onto the knee. He also has some of the most obnoxious hairstyles in wrestling history and this time he was rocking the bleach blond Johnny Rotten spikes. This really had something cool and/or brutal happening every other second and I loved Ono grabbing hold of Hijikata's kneepad so he couldn't reach the ropes out of the armbar. That sort of attention to detail is probably second only to his attention to punching you dead in the nose as my favourite thing about him.