[2009-07-26-BattlARTS] Keita Yano vs Ryuji Walter

[Ma Stump Puller]

Other Deep Dive stuff

Fun/weird match that had some great work at a time where Keita was a bit inconsistent quality-wise. Ryuji Walter (usually named "Ryuji Walters" on his singlet) is another one of those mysterious Japanese uber indie guys that despite being trained by the legendary Boris Malenko has sparingly appeared....well anywhere, really, bar this promotion and some self-promoted indies that maybe made tape. He apparently trained for Inoki's UFO promotion yet it went under before he could show up so he just kinda lingered around the indie scene. Walter still seemingly trains a fair number of wrestlers to this day but any substantial info is lost to the sands of pre-2010's internet obscurity. Keita attacks mid-entrance and works on the leg with some good work while we get the occasional goofy spot that he just lets slip through the usually clean technique out of him, a common occurrence at the time and one of the main issues with his Batti run. I thought the two otherwise were cooking with the major focus on leg submissions and counters, with Ryuji having some good transitions while ultimately getting worn down by Keita's prior leg work and thus not being able to keep the aggression going even when he was seemingly on the upswing.

Keita throws in some relatively novel outside work involving chairs and the very apron being involved, which was very outside the spectrum of action you'd usually see out of a Battlarts 2.0 match. Ryuji gets in some great worked punches in response and sells quite well in terms of getting over his leg troubles enough that you believe the hole he gets stuck in as it gets bigger and bigger from the deficit caused by Keita's relentless knee attacks. It helps that when Keita gets too goofy with his WoS homages that Ryuji has the sensible mindset to rein things back with sick punches and knees to distract you from that stuff. The only thing that hurt the match as a whole was the abrupt ending which had Keita get knocked down, get up, then smacked enough with punches that the ref calls the thing off for a TKO victory for Ryuji. It certainly had some dramatics to it (with some...questionable selling by Keita mind you) but it came a bit too soon and just as things were starting to tense up after a fairly long control segment.

It's a shame as well because this pairing feels like something that could've been way expanded, especially in the next few years when Keita becomes a rogue and starts wrestling epics in basements and backyard gyms. Without the constrains involved here you could see how this could've progressed into more of a dirty scrap with some real huge dramatics to boot. Certainly a match that definitely could've been much greater if it happened down the line. That said, this is still fairly solid by itself. Keita really invokes the GOAT Yoshinari Ogawa here with his prolonged control spots and ability to get you invested throughout despite the length and breadth of said control spots. Ryuji's little counters on the mat here and there were pretty cool; his Kimura attempt while in a heel hook and some fancy exchanges of toe-holds/Achilles Tendon struggles made me pretty much a instant fan of him, and I was really hooked when he starts throwing some very hefty stand-up bombs. Nothing that out there but definitely a real fun and overlooked 7-minute sprint.