[2000-10-01-BattlARTS] Kazunari Murakami & Mitsuya Nagai vs Yuki Ishikawa & Carl Malenko

[soup23]

More Murakami vs Ishikawa? Yes, please. The contrast of the opening to this match with everyone being more calculated was neat compared to the Sept match. September was all about proving yourself to each other by just going out there and throwing the hardest strikes you can. Now, the feud is personal and you just want to assert domination. Murakami sees a quick opening and unleashes a flurry. Later, he essentially holds Malenko hostage for Ishikawa to come back in. After another exchange that Ishikawa gets the best of, Yuki gives a wry smile that exudes “yeah motherfucker, I am better than you.” I don’t want to totally ignore the Malenko vs Nagai stuff as it was perfectly good but the real story that is woven throughout the match is about Ishikawa vs Murakami and when they are in the ring together and not in the ring together. They seem destined for a singles showdown and this match was the perfect appetizer. To play off the previous match, Malenko locks in some submissions that could be finishers on Nagai and this time, Murakami does enter the ring to save his partner by kicking Malenko. Nagai mounts a comeback and gets an awesome flying kick on Carl and then a brutal powerbomb. Now it is Ishikawa’s turn to break up a submission attempt. Carl is groggy and Murakami delivers another huge roundhouse to put him on his ass and then yells at him to get up. Once Carl does, the wrath of Kazunari is unleashed as he just goes ape with a flurry until the bell is called. That sets Yuki off and we have another intense pull apart and challenges issued after the match. In a year of great feuds, this is one of the best and I can’t wait for the singles match. ***3/4 (7.6)

[Edwin]

This is a continuation of the Murakami vs. Ishikawa feud and we get:

• Murakami blasting Ishikawa from the start.
• Nagai spin heel kicking Malenko in the face.
• Gritty grappling exchanges between Malenko and Murakami.
• Ishikawa coming in and kicking Murakami's hands to break his grip blocking an armbar from Malenko.
• Nagai vs. Malenko.
• Murakami blitzing Malenko with a flurry composed of stiff kicks and right and left hands.
• Post fight chaos.

Great stuff.

 

****

[superkix]

This build to Murakami/Ishikawa has been fantastic and while their interactions here were an obvious highlight, I really enjoyed the feisty exchanges between Murakami and Malenko. Nagai was fine here, landing some pretty stiff kicks and throwing some big bombs to bring in Murakami for the finish. And that finish was great, as Murakami just fucks Malenko up for the KO, which leads to the post-match scuffle. Fun stuff.

[ohtani's jacket]

Murakami vs. Ishikawa is the greatest shit ever. Those highlights of the September match were so great. Murakami is such a punk it's unreal. And on the other side, you have a wrestling god In Ishikawa who looks like a guy in a Japanese beer commercial whenever he cracks a joke. In fact, I wish I had more of an effort to go to one of the drinking parties he used to organize after BattleARTS shows. He looks like a fun guy. But he's also a wrestling god so behind the smiles is a serious motherfucker. Nagai looks like he couldn't give a fuck about what's going on until he kicks the shit out of Malenko. And man, Malenko's frenzied counter struggle against the beatdown was intense. It struck me at the time that you could make a case for Malenko being the third best American worker in the world behind Triple H and Benoit albeit with limited footage. This threatened to settle into a normal bout until Nagai fought back and tagged in Murakami who went batshit insane and knocked out Malenko. Then he attacked Ishikawa and they had another off the chain post-match brawl. I think it's fair to say that Murakami wasn't invited to the post-match drinking party. I need to see Murakami vs. Ishikawa yesterday. October has been a great month for wrestling so far.

[AstroBoy]

Crazy awesome shortish tag that made a big statement. Of course so much focus is on Murakami/Ishikawa but I really dug both Nagai and Malenko here. Malenko is fast becoming a favorite of mine. He is such a great grappler who can also hang tough and really comes off as a tough guy even though he looks like the worst dude you'd ever meet at a bar. His selling of Nagai's midsection kick attack was fantastic. You could see the pain registering and the panic going off and it brought the crowd to a frenzy.

 

Nagai was just a total tank, going nuts with nothing but heavy shots. Huge kicks to the ribs and a big time German suplex. The main feud stuff was just icing to a really great match.

 

****