[2001-04-17-BattlARTS] Katsumi Usuda vs Jun Kasai

[GSR]

No time off to recover, three days after his elbow got horrifically sliced open in CZW, Kasai is back wrestling.  He’s got an almighty padded bandage covering that elbow as well as a bandaged shoulder and forearms.  Usuda is wearing a belt, although being that I know little about BattlARTS, no idea what title it is.  The opening few minutes show that Kasai is completely out of his depth going against a Shoot Stylist, forced to constantly go to the ropes to break Usuda’s submissions.  He calls for a timeout and we get a bit of comedy as he eats a banana.  Usuda doesn’t slip on the banana peel, although Kasai shortly after does.  Kasai uses what few teeth he has left to bite his way out of a chinlock and then goes into pro wrestling mode, picking up a couple of two counts following an implant DDT and a frog splash.  You can see that nasty wound on his elbow has opened up, blood seeping through and turning the bandage red.  He runs into a boot before being punted in the head.  Usuda transitions from an armbar to a triangle, the ropes once more Kasai’s friend.  ‘The Crazy Monkey’ does get in one final hope spot after spiking Usuda with a DDT, however makes the mistake of heading upstairs, Usuda kicking the ropes causing him to fall to the mat.  He then slaps on a sleeper/rear naked choke for the tap.

A complete clash of styles in what ended up being a poor match.  I couldn’t tell if Usuda was pulling some of his kicks or he was just coming up short, still Kasai was selling them and it didn’t look good.  Can’t say I was impressed with Usuda’s grappling or his submissions either.  Not worth the time.