1/13/96
Minoru Tanaka vs. Satoshi Yoneyama 5:31
Takeshi Ono vs. Alexander Otsuka 8:37
Koji Nakagawa & Tetsuhiro Kuroda vs. Hisakatsu Oya & Ricky Fuji 15:57
Shoichi Funaki & Yuki Ishikawa defeat Daisuke Ikeda & Katsumi Usuda 16:10
4/6/96
Yuki Ishikawa vs. Takeshi Ono
Carl Greco vs. Satoshi Yoneyama
Katsumi Usuda vs. Alexander Otsuka
Daisuke Ikeda vs. Shoichi Funaki
4/6/96
Yuki Ishikawa vs. Takeshi Ono
Carl Greco vs. Satoshi Yoneyama
Katsumi Usuda vs. Alexander Otsuka
Daisuke Ikeda vs. Shoichi Funaki
3/15/96
Blizzard YUKI vs. Chaparrita Delfin (Chaparrita ASARI) 16:43
Gran Naniwa & Shoichi Funaki & TAKA Michinoku vs. The Great Sasuke & Shiryu & Tiger Mask IV
CMLL World Welterweight Title Match: El Pantera vs. Super Delfin 14:01
Battlarts Champ
4/13 Odawara: Carl Greco vs. Yuki Ishikawa
Minoru Tanaka vs. TAKA Michinoku
Yuki Ishikawa & Katsumi Usuda vs. Carl Greco & Daisuke Ikeda
FMW Champ Forum 6/8/96
Independent World Junior Title: Shoichi Funaki vs. Koji Nakagawa
Katsutoshi Niiyama & Masato Tanaka vs. The Headhunters
Street Fight: BADBOY Hido & Hideki Hosaka & W*ING Kanemura vs. Crypt The Keeper & Shoji Nakamaki & Super Leather
*All league matches*
8/4/96 Hokkaido Sapporo Teison Hall: Takeshi Ono vs. Carl Greco. Ono was totally unimpressive and killed the match. *
8/5 Hokkaido : Satoshi Yoneyama vs. Dieuseul Berto. Pretty realistic looking, but not that great to watch. Berto did a good job of making his strikes look real. *1/4
8/25 Tokushima Bunka: Alexander Otsuka vs. Minoru Tanaka. Otsuka carried this and looked good. Tanaka was fine, but has come a long way since then. Otsuka got a bloody nose. **1/4
8/31 Saitama Kawashima Chomin Taiikukan: Yuki Ishikawa vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa. This was fine, but I expected more from these two. **
9/1/96 Tokyo Kitazawa Town Hall
Shoichi Funaki vs. Minoru Tanaka. Funaki's submissions vs. Tanaka's stiff kicks. **1/2
Young Generation Battle '96 3rd Place Match: Yuki Ishikawa vs. Takeshi Ono. Ishikawa did a good job here. He mainly kept it on the ground, with Ono kicking a lot harder than he normally does during standup. **1/2
Young Generation Battle '96 Final: Daisuke Ikeda vs. Katsumi Usuda. Good stiff match that Ikeda made dramatic. ***
*Replica package available*
10/2/96: Minoru Tanaka vs. Katsumi Usuda
10/4/96: Minoru Tanaka vs. Shoichi Funaki
10/2/96: Daisuke Ikeda & Takeshi Ono vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa & Yuki Ishikawa
10/4/96: Daisuke Ikeda & Takeshi Ono vs. Katsumi Usuda & Yuki Ishikawa
10/19/96
Tiger Mask & Wellington Wilkins Jr. vs. Gran Naniwa & Yone Genjin
Dick Togo & MEN'S Teio & Shiryu vs. Gran Hamada & Masato Yakushiji & The Great Sasuke
Jinsei Shinzaki vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa
Satoshi Yoneyama vs. Tetsuhiro Kuroda. Nothing like what you see from today's Kuroda; it was very submission oriented. Nothing spectacular, but better than expected and decent enough. 5:07 shown. Okay
Shoichi Funaki vs. Victor Kruger. Funaki used his speed and quickness to combat Kruger's huge size advantage. The match was good while it lasted because Funaki can really go when he wants to and Victor wasn't afraid to let Funaki make him look foolish. Unfortunately for the match quality though, the point of the match was to put Victor over strong so once he caught up to Funaki it was all she wrote. 5:07 shown. Good for what it was
Carl Greco vs. Katsumi Usuda. '80's U.W.F style mat match. Technique was good, but since the style had evolved by this point and these guys aren't exactly Takada & Yamazaki, it wasn't that exciting. 9:13 shown. Decent
4/14/96 Saitama GAZA HALL: TAKA Michinoku vs. Minoru Tanaka. Good technical match. They pretty much explored all aspects of shoot style, although they weren't afraid to throw in a pro style move. TAKA made it dramatic. He made me believe that he could lose...and then he did. Excellent finish with Tanaka turning the Michinoku driver II into a hizajujigatame. ***1/4
5/31/96 Nagoya Nakamura Sports Center Independent World Sekai Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: TAKA Michinoku vs. Minoru Tanaka. As Tanaka won with a leg submission in the previous match, he focused on repeating that result again. TAKA sold his knee like crazy. Even though this was far more toward Tanaka's style, TAKA was on top of his game here and the reason it was very good. Smart, well worked match. 9:22 shown. Very good
8/4/96 Sappporo Teison Hall: TAKA Michinoku vs. Minoru Tanaka. Last 3 minutes of a 30:00 draw. They still had some stamina left.
Independent World Sekai Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: TAKA Michinoku vs. Minoru Tanaka 13:01 of 20:18. TAKA was genuinely interested in exploring the mat in these days, and Minoru was the perfect junior to have a quasi U.W.F. match with. Though Tanaka didn't have the pedigree of TAKA at this point, the fact it was in his league, in his style, and their third match of the year made you believe he had a chance. It was very glamorous shoot stuff. They didn't take their time to set up and work the holds and positions, this was all about the catch, which was both good and bad. What put the match well into the plus side was their movement on the mat, the quick counters and transitions were just beautiful to watch. Once again, TAKA sold his knee for all it was worth. If you don't mind selling that's exaggerated, this was a clinic. They didn't do any junior style spots until the final stage as they didn't want to detract from the theme, but TAKA even let Tanaka use his Michinoku driver II on him. Tanaka was hardly great at this point, his strikes being erratic and lacking stiffness even when they did land the way he hoped, but he was mainly on tonight and certainly did more than enough right to allow TAKA to give a memorable performance. The other problem with this match was, after all Tanaka did to TAKA, TAKA put him away with two moves. 13:00 shown. ***1/2 range
Daisuke Ikeda & Takeshi Ono vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Alexander Otsuka 16:59 of 21:24. Ultra stiff contest with potato shots from the opening bell. It was one of Battlarts truest odes to pro wrestling's conception of shoot wrestling with pretty much everything flying except for a well incorporated stuff powerbomb and Otsuka's giant swing, which was about as fast a giant swing as you'll ever see. I would have preferred the shoot wrestling be the quicker transition stuff RINGS was incorporating at the time rather than the hold the lock, minimal transition stuff of the original UWF, but they were consistent. The match wasn't anything special beyond it's stiffness, but this was the kind of stiffness that would make Kawada proud. Ikeda, who was quite impressive, and even Ono were SO NASTY. Not that they went easy on Otsuka, but Ishikawa really took a beating. Intense match, particularly when Otsuka was in. ***3/4
Yumi Fukawa vs. Mima Shimoda
TAKA Michinoku & Shoichi Funaki & MEN's Teio& Dick Togo & Shiryu vs. Tiger Mask IV & Gran Naniwa & The Great Sasuke & Super Delfin & Gran Hamada 24:27 of 30:38. ****1/4
Champ Forum Battlarts 2/8/97 taped 12/26/96 Tokyo JCTV Studios
Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Satoshi Yoneyama
Minoru Tanaka vs. Yuki Ishikawa
Alexander Otsuka & Daisuke Ikeda vs. Takeshi Ono & Katsumi Usuda
Shoichi Funaki vs. Ikuto Hidaka (debut)
Alexander Otsuka vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa (Michinoku Pro)
Michinoku Pro 8 Man Tag Match: Gran Hamada& Gran Naniwa & Masato Yakushiji & The Great Sasuke vs. Dick Togo & MEN'S Teioh & Shiryu & TAKA Michinoku
Minoru Tanaka vs. Shodai Tiger Mask (free)
Yuki Ishikawa & Takeshi Ono vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Katsumi Usuda
3/13/97
Minoru Tanaka vs. Katsumi Usuda
Takeshi Ono vs. Alexander Otsuka
Kickboxing match
Yuki Ishikawa & Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Shoichi Funaki
3/14/97
Minoru Tanaka vs. Ikuto Hidaka
Katsumi Usuda vs. Shoichi Funaki
Tatsuo Nakano vs. Alexander Otsuka
Daisuke Ikeda & Takeshi Ono vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa & Yuki Ishikawa
2/20/97
Ikuto Hidaka vs. Shoichi Funaki
Katsumi Usuda vs. Alexander Otsuka
Minoru Tanaka vs. Takeshi Ono
Daisuke Ikeda vs. Carl Greco
Yuki Ishikawa vs. Viktor Kruger
2/28/97
Ikuto Hidaka vs. Takeshi Ono
Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Shoichi Funaki
Yuki Ishikawa vs. Alexander Otsuka
Minoru Tanaka vs. Gran Hamada
Daisuke Ikeda & Katsumi Usuda vs. Carl Greco & Viktor Kruger
4/13/97
Shoichi Funaki vs. Alexander Otsuka
Katsumi Usuda vs. Takeshi Ono
Minoru Tanaka vs. Daisuke Ikeda
4/15/97
Ikuto Hidaka vs. Takeshi Ono
Daisuke Ikeda vs. Yuki Ishikawa
5/18/97
Ikuto Hidaka vs. Yuki Ishikawa
Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Rambo
Minoru Tanaka vs. Viktor Kruger
Alexander Otsuka & Katsumi Usuda vs. Takeshi Ono & Yuki Ishikawa
UWA World Middleweight Title Match: Shoichi Funaki vs. Michael Kovac
5/24/97
Ikuto Hidaka vs. Takeshi Ono
Michael Kovac vs. Rambo
Naohiro Hoshikawa & Yuki Ishikawa vs. Alexander Otsuka & Daisuke Ikeda
Katsumi Usuda vs. Viktor Kruger
UWA World Middleweight Title Match: Shoichi Funaki vs. Minoru Tanaka
Michael Kovac vs. Ikuto Hidaka
Minoru Tanaka vs. Alexander Otsuka
Shoichi Funaki vs. Takeshi Ono
Katsumi Usuda vs. Tatsuo Nakano
Daisuke Ikeda & Yuki Ishikawa vs. Rambo & Viktor Kruger
6/8/01
Felino & Olimpico & Safari vs. Gran Markus Jr. & Veneno & Zumbido
Apolo Dantes & Black Warrior & Shocker vs. Bestia Salvaje & Emilio Charles Jr. & Scorpio Jr.
7/20/01: El Hijo Del Rayo De Jalisco Jr. & Lizmark Jr. & Villano III vs. Apolo Dantes & Dr. Wagner Jr. & El Signo
Battlarts 5/31/97
Alexander Otsuka vs. Ikuto Hidaka
Minoru Tanaka vs. Michael Kovacs
Katsumi Usuda vs. Rambo
Alexander Otsuka & Yuki Ishikawa & Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Shoichi Funaki & Takeshi Ono & Victor Kruger
6/27/97
Ikuto Hidaka vs. Mamoru Okamoto
Katsumi Usuda & Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Takeshi Ono & Yuki Ishikawa
Carl Greco & Viktor Kruger vs. Alexander Otsuka & Daisuke Ikeda
UWA World Middleweight Title: Minoru Tanaka vs. Masato Yakushiji
6/28/97
Ikuto Hidaka vs. Masato Yakushiji
Minoru Tanaka vs. Mamoru Okamoto
Carl Greco & Katsumi Usuda vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa & Yuki Ishikawa
Alexander Otsuka & Daisuke Ikeda vs. Takeshi Ono & Viktor Kruger
7/4/97
Ikuto Hidaka vs. Mamoru Okamoto
Gran Naniwa vs. Masato Yakushiji
Alexander Otsuka & Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Takeshi Ono & Viktor Krueger
Minoru Tanaka & Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Katsumi Usuda
7/6/97
Alexander Otsuka & Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Takeshi Ono & Viktor Krueger
Minoru Tanaka & Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Katsumi Usuda
Alexander Otsuka vs. Mamoru Okamoto 6:20
Takeshi Ono vs. Ikuto Hidaka 5:19
Young Generation Battle 1997: Katsumi Usuda [2] vs. Daisuke Ikeda [0] 10:17
Mamoru Okamoto & Takeshi Ono vs. Alexander Otsuka & Ikuto Hidaka 13:13
Young Generation Battle 1997: Viktor Krüger [2] vs. Yuki Ishikawa [0] 14:11
7/26/97
Ikuto Hidaka vs. Mamoru Okamoto
Young Generation Battle '97: Alexander Otsuka vs. Takeshi Ono
Young Generation Battle '97: Minoru Tanaka vs. Katsumi Usuda
Ikuto Hidaka & Yuki Ishikawa vs. Mamoru Okamoto & Viktor Kruger
Young Generation Battle '97: Daisuke Ikeda vs. Carl Greco
7/27/97
Ikuto Hidaka vs. Takeshi Ono
Young Generation Battle '97: Katsumi Usuda vs. Carl Greco
Daisuke Ikeda & Mamoru Okamoto vs. Ikuto Hidaka & Yuki Ishikawa
UWA World Middleweight Title: Minoru Tanaka vs. Flying Kid Ichihara
Young Generation Battle '97: Alexander Otsuka vs. Viktor Kruger
8/29/97
Young Generation Battle '97: Minoru Tanaka vs. Alexander Otsuka. JIP
Young Generation Battle '97: Takeshi Ono vs. Viktor Kruger
Young Generation Battle '97: Yuki Ishikawa vs. Katsumi Usuda
8/30/97
Young Generation Battle '97: Takeshi Ono vs. Carl Greco
Young Generation Battle '97: Katsumi Usuda vs. Alexander Otsuka
Young Generation Battle '97: Minoru Tanaka vs. Yuki Ishikawa
Young Generation Battle '97: Daisuke Ikeda vs. Viktor Kruger
9/1/97
Young Generation Battle '97: Minoru Tanaka vs. Takeshi Ono
Young Generation Battle '97: Carl Greco vs. Alexander Otsuka
Young Generation Battle '97: Katsumi Usuda vs. Viktor Kruger
Young Generation Battle '97: Daisuke Ikeda vs. Yuki Ishikawa
9/3/97
Young Generation Battle '97:Katsumi Usuda vs. Takeshi Ono
Young Generation Battle '97: Yuki Ishikawa vs. Alexander Otsuka
Young Generation Battle '97: Minoru Tanaka vs. Daisuke Ikeda
9/6/97
Young Generation Battle '97: Carl Greco vs. Viktor Kruger
Young Generation Battle '97: Daisuke Ikeda vs. Takeshi Ono
9/7/97 Day show
Young Generation Battle Robin Round: Minoru Tanaka vs. Viktor Kruger
Young Generation Battle Robin Round: Carl Greco vs. Yuki Ishikawa
Young Generation Battle Robin Round: Alexander Otsuka vs. Daisuke Ikeda
Night Show Young Generation Battle '97 Final: Alexander Otsuka vs. Viktor Kruger
Tohoku Dome Tour Pursuit Battle IN BATTLARTS 9/24/97
Minoru Tanaka vs. Ikuto Hidaka
Tiger Mask & Yuki Ishikawa vs. Katsumi Usuda & Takeshi Ono
Daisuke Ikeda vs. Alexander Otsuka
Koshigaya Citzen's Festival 10/5/97
Takeshi Ono vs. Mamoru Okamoto
Minoru Tanaka vs. Ikuto Hidaka
Alexander Otsuka & Katsumi Usuda vs. Mamoru Okamoto & Yuki Ishikawa
10/18/97 Kitaibaraki Civic Gym
Katsumi Usuda vs. Mamoru Okamoto
Minoru Tanaka vs. Yuki Ishikawa
Daisuke Ikeda & Takeshi Ono vs. Alexander Otsuka & Tiger Mask
10/19/97 Kodama Town Gym
Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Tanaka vs. Masao Orihara & Takeshi Ono
Daisuke Ikeda & Katsumi Usuda vs. Alexander Otsuka & Yuki Ishikawa
Ikuto Hidaka vs. Mamoru Okamoto
Carl Greco vs. Takeshi Ono
Mohammed Yone vs. Yuki Ishikawa
UWA World Middleweight Title Match: Minoru Tanaka vs. Masao Orihara
Daisuke Ikeda vs. Alexander Otsuka
11/22/97
Tag Battle 1997 Match: Daisuke Ikeda & Mohammed Yone vs. Alexander Otsuka & Minoru Tanaka
Tag Battle 1997 Match: Carl Greco & Yuki Ishikawa vs. Katsumi Usuda & Tatsuo Nakano
11/25/97
Tag Battle 1997 Match: Katsumi Usuda & Tatsuo Nakano vs. Masao Orihara & Takeshi Ono
Tag Battle 1997 Match: Daisuke Ikeda & Mohammed Yone vs. Carl Greco & Yuki Ishikawa
11/29/97 Tag Battle 1997 Match: Alexander Otsuka & Minoru Tanaka vs. Masao Orihara & Takeshi Ono
12/1/97 Seibu Honkawagoe Pepe Hall Atlas, Tag Battle 1997 Match: Katsumi Usuda & Tatsuo Nakano vs. Alexander Otsuka & Minoru Tanaka
12/9/97 Nagoya Rainbow Hall #2
Tag Battle 1997 Match: Daisuke Ikeda & Mohammed Yone vs. Katsumi Usuda & Tatsuo Nakano
Tag Battle 1997 Match: Carl Greco & Yuki Ishikawa vs. Masao Orihara & Takeshi Ono
Tag Battle 1997 Final Match: Carl Greco & Yuki Ishikawa vs. Alexander Otsuka & Minoru Tanaka
Daisuke Ikeda & Mohammed Yone vs. Ikuto Hidaka & Mamoru Okamoto 23:05
Takeshi Ono vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa 11:55
Alexander Otsuka & Katsumi Usuda vs. Minoru Tanaka & Yuki Ishikawa 19:31
2/7/98
Mach Junji vs. Ryuji Hijikata
Alexander Otsuka & Mamoru Okamoto vs. Masao Orihara & Takeshi Ono
Daisuke Ikeda & Minoru Tanaka vs. Yuji Ishikawa & Naohiro Hoshikawa
2/8/98
Katsumi Usuda & Minoru Fujita vs. Tomoaki Honma & Yuki Ishikawa
Ikuto Hidaka & Masao Orihara & Takeshi Ono vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Mamoru Okamoto & Naohiro Hoshikawa
3/5/98
Mohammed Yone & Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Ikuto Hidaka & Masao Orihara
Katsumi Usuda & Minoru Fujita vs. Tomoaki Honma & Yuki Ishikawa
3/6/98
Alexander Otsuka vs. Tomoaki Honma
Hidetomo Egawa & Masao Orihara & Takeshi Ono vs. Daisuke Ikeda, Mamoru Okamoto & Mohammed Yone
Yuki Ishikawa vs. Katsumi Usuda
Katsumi Usuda vs. Hidetomo Egawa
Masao Orihara & Takeshi Ono vs. Mamoru Okamoto & Mohammed Yone
Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Ikuto Hidaka
UWA World Middleweight Title: Minoru Tanaka vs. Tiger Mask
Alexander Otsuka & Yuki Ishikawa vs. Carl Greco & Daisuke Ikeda
4/24/98
Masao Orihara & Takeshi Ono vs. Mamoru Okamoto & Masaru Seno
Alexander Otsuka & Mohammed Yone vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Katsumi Usuda
Yuki Ishikawa vs. Carl Greco
5/10/98
Masao Orihara & Takeshi Ono vs. Mamoru Okamoto & Ryuji Hijikata
Alexander Otsuka vs. Katsushi Takemura
Elimination Tag Match: Daisuke Ikeda & Gran Naniwa & Yone Genjin vs. Carl Greco & Ikuto Hidaka & Yuki Ishikawa
7/25/98
Young Generation Battle '98 Koshiki Leaguesen: Katsumi Usuda vs. Alexander Otsuka. Stiff well worked action. It was worked in shoot style, but they were diverse within that style. The match was a little long for them to go in this style, but they didn't waste time to fill it. Usuda needs to learn how to kick without loading them up though because it's extremely hard to hit his kind of kicks when the opponent doesn't know it's coming. 13:59. ***
Young Generation Battle '98 Koshiki Leaguesen: Takeshi Ono vs. Masao Orihara. Battle of the Tonpachi Machine Guns. The execution was surprisingly good, but it was real basic with no real transition and just taking turns on offense. 12:20. **
Clips of YGB league matches from 7/26-7/30
8/2/98
Young Generation Battle '98 Koshiki Leaguesen: Alexander Otsuka vs. Katsuji Takemura. Takemura wasn't capable of much and has no charisma. Otsuka spiced it up a bit, but these two had no chemistry together. Dull but passable. 8:30. *3/4
Young Generation Battle '98 Koshiki Leaguesen: Masao Orihara vs. Muhammed Yone. Short nothing match with Orihara in full overselling mode. 6:44. *
Young Generation Battle '98 Koshiki Leaguesen: Daisuke Ikeda vs. Takeshi Ono. A lot of striking, but Ikeda's are too much better for exchanges to be credible. The Brief Brothers came out during the match to support Ono and antagonize Ikeda. After the match, Ikeda fought with them in the back. 5:24. *
5/27/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Minoru Tanaka vs. Masaaki Mochizuki (Buko Dojo). I wish they showed this whole match because it looked really good. Mochizuki was on here. They worked a good storyline where he injured Tanaka's leg, and Tanaka did a good job of putting this over. Very good.
Katsumi Usuda vs. Mitsuhiro Matsunaga (free). This was not even remotely reminiscent of a Battlarts match. Matsunaga did the same garbage he did in all the garbage leagues, except he threw in submission once in a while. 5 1/2 minutes aired, and they were 5 1/2 too many.
Alexander Otsuka vs. Viktor Kruger. This was a pretty good match pitting Otsuka's submission and technique against Kruger's size and power. 6 minutes shown.
Carl Greco vs. Ryuji Yamakawa. 5 minutes aired, and it was nothing special.
8/29/98 Sapporo Teison Hall
Katsumi Usuda vs. Ryuji Yamakawa. Usuda did some killer kicks. This looked good, but only 3 minutes were shown.
Yuki Ishikawa vs. Alexander Otsuka. Lots of near finishes. 5 minutes shown.
Young Generation Battle '98 Koshiki Leaguesen B Block
7/25/98 Tokyo FM Hall: Masao Orihara (Mebius) vs. Takeshi Ono. Orihara carried Ono to a good match. 5 minutes shown.
8/21/98: Masao Orihara vs. Mohammad Yone. Good action. 6:45 shown.
8/2/98: Daisuke Ikeda vs. Takeshi Ono. Nothing special. 3 minutes shown.
5/22/98: Minoru Tanaka vs. Viktor Kruger. Kruger used his size advantage to dominate, but Tanaka beat him with one move. Fair. 4 1/2 minutes shown.
9/6/98 Tokyo FM Hall
Young Generation Battle Junkessho: Viktor Kruger vs. Carl Greco. This ended before it began. Why even bother? DUD
Young Generation Battle Junkessho: Yuki Ishikawa vs. Minoru Tanaka. One nice spot after another, too bad only 4:45 was shown.
Young Generation Battle Yushoketteisen: Yuki Ishikawa vs. Viktor Kruger. Match was alright, but nothing special.
6/14/98 Tokyo FM Hall UWA Sekai Middlekyo Oiza Ketteisen: Ikuto Hidaka vs. The Willow (Jeff Hardy). Willow wins title. Looked good. 4:15 shown.
6/15/98 Yuki Ishikawa vs. Yone Genjin. Nothing special. 4:15 shown.
8/22/98: Yuki Ishikawa & Daisuke Ikeda vs. Alexander Otsuka & Mohammed Yone. The match seemed good, but the finish was pretty week. 6:00 shown.
5/27/98 Tokyo Korkuen Hall: Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda. This is the best Battlarts match I've seen so far. These guys were just killing each other. The match was technically excellent, with really good timing. They connected with the audience well and entertained them, but still wrestled smart and built the match around parity, teases, and near finishes. The style was similar to old UWF, but it was more exciting, had better intensity and was stiffer. ****1/4
Daisuke Ikeda vs. Takemura (6/14/98 - Omori, Japan)
UWA Middleweight Title : Ikuto Hidaka vs. Willow the Wisp (6/14/98 - Omori, Japan)
Yuki Ishikawa & Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Mohammed Yone & Yone Genjin (6/14/98 - Omori, Japan)
Masao Orihara & Takeshi Ono vs. Minoru Fujita & Ikuto Hidaka (6/15/98 - Akita, Japan)
Naohiro Hoshikawa & Carl Greco vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Mohammed Yone (6/15/98 - Akita, Japan)
Yuki Ishikawa vs. Yone Genjin (6/15/98 - Akita, Japan)
7/25/98
Alexander Otsuka vs. Katsumi Usuda
Masao Orihara vs. Takeshi Ono
8/2/98
Alexander Otsuka vs. Katsushi Takemura
Masao Orihara vs. Mohammed Yone
Daisuke Ikeda vs. Takeshi Ono
Young Generation Battle '98 league match highlights from 8/28/98 & 9/5/98
Daisuke Ikeda & Mohammad Yone vs. Alexander Otsuka & Ikuto Hidaka. Good, solid match. Ikeda, Otsuka, & Hidaka all had their moments. **3/4
Young Generation Battle '98 Junkessho: Carl Greco vs. Victor Kruger. 48 second match.
Young Generation Battle '98 Junkessho: Yuki Ishikawa vs. Minoru Tanaka. Good, submission oriented U.W.F. style match. Tanaka did his moves so well. He pushed Ishikawa, even giving Ishikawa his own enzuigiri to manjigatame, but Ishikawa wound up catching him. ***
Alexander Otsuka vs. Ryuji Hijikata. Short squash.
Daisuke Ikeda & Mohammad Yone & Mach Junji vs. Masao Orihara & Takeshi Ono & Damashii Okamoto. Tonpachi dominated and there weren't too many impressive performances here. *1/2
Young Generation Battle '98 Yushosen: Yuki Ishikawa vs. Victor Kruger. Match was okay, but pretty deliberate with Ishikawa not trying anything too difficult. Mainly Kruger dominated with his power when it wasn't on the mat. **
10/5/98
Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Fujita vs. Masato Yakushiji & Naohiro Hoshikawa. Great fast action. Hidaka was really impressive wrestling wise, but his team never had a chance of winning. 5:20 shown
J.Y.B. Super Bout Ikkaisen: Minoru Tanaka vs. Katsumi Usuda. 3:40 shown
10/23/98
J.Y.B. Super Bout Ikkaisen: Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Masaaki Mochizuki. 4:45 shown
Yuki Ishikawa & Bob Backlund vs. Alexander Otsuka & Hisakatsu Oya
Hidaka gives a lesson on how to do the swandive style missile kick
10/5/98
B-CUP '98 Tournament Ikkaisen: Hisakatsu Oya vs. Greg Valentine
B-CUP '98 Tournament Ikkaisen: Daisuke Ikeda vs. Bob Backlund
10/23/98
B-CUP '98 Tournament Ikkaisen: SASUKE vs. Victor Kruegar
10/5/98
B-CUP '98 Tournament Ikkaisen: Yuki Ishikawa vs. Mitsuhiro Matsunaga. Matsunaga cut Ishikawa's head right away. When he got tired of gouging that cut, he switched to hacking Ishikawa's arm up.
Masaaki Mochizuki & Mach Junji vs. Masaru Seno (Michinoku Pro) & Takashi Hijikata
TAKA Michinoku & Shoichi Funaki (WWF team) vs. Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Fujita (Big Japan) 5:00 of 11:11. A showcase for the up and coming team, who were fired up to face the returning stars. You knew they didn't have a chance, so it was basically Hidaka & Fujita being aggressive & showing they could compete, & TAKA & Funaki throwing in some of their signature moves before they got the victory. They did a nice mix of flying & kneework, and it was a fast paced, well executed match. It wasn't nearly what it could have been if star power & experience weren't factored in, but it was good for what it was.
Hayabusa vs. Rey Bucanero
Victor Kruger & Carl Greco vs. Masao Orihara (Mebius) & Takeshi Ono
JYB Super Bout Final: Naohiro Hoshikawa (Michinoku Pro) vs. Minoru Tanaka 10:01 of 25:35. A showstealer! These guys went all out to incorporate every aspect of their games into the match. It was a little sloppy here and there, but just fantastic action from start to finish. I thought this would be a more technically oriented match focusing on kicks & submissions, but they featured their athleticism no matter what they were doing, diving with kicks and flying with submissions, whatever they could think of to feature the junior style action despite their quasi shoot style base. The editing was seriously annoying, and the finish felt a bit anticlimactic, but it was a wonderful highlight reel that was likely more than that in actuality. **** range
Highlights of B-CUP '98 Tournament 1st Round matches
B-CUP '98 Tournament Semifinal: Yuki Ishikawa vs. Hisakatsu Oya (FMW)
B-CUP '98 Tournament Semifinal: SASUKE (Michinoku Pro) vs. Bob Backlund
Daisuke Ikeda vs. Katsumi Usuda
The Road Warriors vs. Alexander Otsuka & Mohammad Yone
B-CUP '98 Tournament Final: Yuki Ishikawa vs. Bob Backlund. Ishikawa wins B-CUP '98
taped 12/16/98 Saitama Honkawagoe Pepe Hall
Edited down versions of Yuki Ishikawa & Carl Greco vs. Katsumi Usuda & Ryuji Hijikata, Mohammad Yone vs. Mach Junji, Alexander Otsuka vs. Katsuji Takemura
TAG BATTLE '98 Koshikileaguesen: Minoru Tanaka & Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Fujita. ***
TAG BATTLE '98 Digest
taped 12/25/98 Tokyo FM Hall
Mach Junji vs. Ryuji Hijikata. 6 minutes shown of 30:00 draw. Decent in this version.
Alexander Otsuka & Mohammad Yone vs. Katsumi Usuda & Katsuji Takemura. *3/4
TAG BATTLE '98 Koshikileaguesen: Masao Orihara & Takeshi Ono vs. Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Fujita. ***
TAG BATTLE '98 Koshikileaguesen: Yuji Ishikawa & Carl Greco vs. Minoru Tanaka & Masaaki Mochizuki. **1/2
Mach Junji vs. Ryuji Hijikata. 3:28 shown.
Katsumi Usuda vs. Masaaki Mochizuki. Mochizuki put on a good show with his athleticism and kicks. 3:13 shown.
Tiger Mask & Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Fujita. Exciting match. Fast-paced with lots of action and really impressive work. The teamwork of Hidaka & Fujita was impressive. 4:39 shown.
Tonpachi Machine Guns '99 Leader Ketteisen (decison match): Masao Orihara vs. Takeshi Ono. Orihara was up to the task here, carrying Ono to one of his best matches. Action packed, but the uick comebacks were kinda ridiculous. Orihara made it dramatic by kicking out at 2 9/10 down the stretch. ***1/4
Minoru Tanaka vs. Hayato Nanjo. Tanaka looked great here combining cool high spots with choice submissions. 5:34 shown.
Yuki Ishikawa & Alexander Otsuka vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Mohammed Yone. Really stiff, high impact match. Not pretty, but there was some serious ass kicking going on here. Yone wasn't given a chance to reduce this one. ***3/4
2/12
Mohammad Yone vs. Ryuji Hijikata. 1:16 shown
Takeshi Ono & Mach Junji vs. Azteca & Daiyo Kawauchi. 1:46 shown
Yuji Ishikawa & Ikuto Hidaka vs. Minoru Tanaka & Minoru Fujita. Hidaka & Fujita worked well together, but overall it seemed like a big disappointment considering who was involved 6:51 shown
Alexander Otsuka & Tiger Mask vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Katsumi Usuda. One of those long matches where you keep waiting for them to turn it up but it never happens. 10:36 shown
2/14
Minoru Fujita vs. Ryuji Hijikata. 1:12 shown
Azteca vs. Daiyo Kawauchi. :59 shown
Tiger Mask & Ikuto Hidaka vs. Takeshi Ono & Mach Junji. Hidaka looked great when he was on offense, but Tonpachi mainly dominated and their offense wasn't good. *1/2
Mohammad Yone & Katsumi Usuda vs. Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Yoshinori Sasaki. FMW was outclassed by two of Battlarts worst. You know you are in trouble when Yone is carrying the match. Sasaki thinks he's Vader, but doesn't have the size or skill to come close. Kuroda just used a bunch of lariats and half of them didn't even look good. *1/2
Yuki Ishikawa & Minoru Tanaka vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Alexander Otsuka. Tanaka looked good, but no one else did much. 7:28 shown
taped 3/12/99 Tokyo FM Hall
TAG BATTLE '98 Yushoketteisen: Yuki Ishikawa & Carl Greco vs. Alexander Otsuka & Mohammad Yone. Otsuka & Yone win tag league. **1/4
JJC League Digest
taped 3/21/99 Osaka Maisu Arena Sub Arena
JJC Sodatsuleaguesen Yushoketteisn: Minoru Tanaka vs. Masaaki Mochizuki. **1/2
taped 3/20 Nagoya
Yuki Ishikawa & Alexander Otsuka & Mohammad Yone vs. Mitsuhiro Matsunaga & Katsumi Usuda & Ryuji Yamakawa. 1/2*
This is a tournament of man & woman vs. man & woman mixed matches where the men and women have to wrestle each other because each match goes until everyone on one team is eliminated
Tournament Ikkaisen
Takeshi Ono & Ran YuYu & Mach Junji vs. Devil Masami & Daisuke Ikeda & Kayoko Haruyama. **1/4
Yuki Ishikawa & Kana Mizaki & Tsubasa Kuragaki vs. Alexander Otsuka & Azumi Hyuga & Hikari Fukuoka. *3/4
Tournament Junkessho
Devil Masami & Daisuke Ikeda & Kayoko Haruyama vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mohammad Yone & Maya Hashimoto. *1/4
Katsumi Usuda & Command Bolshoi & Carlos Amano vs. Alexander Otsuka & Azumi Hyuga & Hikari Fukuoka. **1/2
King & Queen Tournament Kesshosen
Dynamite Kansai & Mohammad Yone & Maya Hashimoto vs. Alexander Otsuka & Azumi Hyuga & Hikari Fukuoka. *
Katsumi Usuda & Ryuji Yamakawa vs. Masao Orihara & Takeshi Ono
FMW World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Minoru Tanaka vs. Naoki Sano
Spike Death Match: Mitsuhiro Matsunaga vs. Yuki Ishikawa
Yoshinori Sasaki vs. Ryuji Hijikata
Carl Greco vs. Mach Junji
Gran Naniwa & Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Ikuto Hidaka & Tiger Mask
Daisuke Ikeda vs. Bob Backlund
Alexander Otsuka & Mohammed Yone vs. Hayabusa & Tetsuhiro Kuroda
Don Arakawa vs. Tsubo Genjin. -**
5 Minute Exhibition: San-daime (third) Mach Junji vs. ?
Tsunehito Naito & Cannonball KAZU vs. Hodes Min & Masahiro Hashibe. Seemed alright. 4 minutes shown.
Mohammad Yone & Mach Junji vs. Takeshi Ono & Ryushi Hijikata. Seemed okay. 4 minutes shown.
Tiger Mask & Minoru Tanaka vs. Gran Naniwa & Masaaki Mochizuki. Seemed very good. 4:45 shown.
Ikuto Hidaka vs. Shodai Tiger Mask. *3/4
Soronaka Memorial Ceremony. Masakatsu Funaki, Katsuomi Inagaki, Takaku Fuke & Kiuma Kunioku are present
FMW Sekai Junior Heavykyu Title Match: Naoki Sano vs. Katsumi Usuda. **1/2
Joe Malenko & Carl Malenko (Carl Greco) vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Daisuke Ikeda. **3/4
6/20/99 Tokyo FM Hall
Rastaman vs. Ryushi Hijikata. DUD
Minoru Tanaka vs. Katsumi Usuda. Decent
Tokyo FM Hall Digest
Yuki Ishikawa & Mohammad Yone vs. Daisuke Ideda & Ikuto Hidaka. **
6/25/99 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan 2
Minoru Tanaka vs. Ikuto Hidaka. ***1/4 range
Osaka Digest
Yuki Ishikawa vs. Katsumi Usuda. ***
Daisuke Ikeda & Takeshi Ono vs. Mohammad Yone & Masao Orihara. **
1/12/99 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Yuki Ishikawa & Alexander Otsuka vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Mohammad Yone. 6:11 shown
2/14 ACROS Fukuoka
Mohammad Yone & Katsumi Usuda vs. Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Yoshinori Sasaki. 3:53 shown
Yuki Ishikawa & Minoru Tanaka vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Alexander Otsuka. 4:20 shown
3/12/99 Tokyo FM Hall
TAG BATTLE '98 Yushoketteisen: Yuki Ishikawa & Carl Greco vs. Alexander Otsuka & Mohammad Yone. 4:54 shown
3/20/99 Nagoya
Yuki Ishikawa & Alexander Otsuka & Mohammad Yone vs. Mitsuhiro Matsunaga & Katsumi Usuda & Ryuji Yamakawa. 4:43 shown
3/21 Osaka Maisu (?) Arena Sub Arena
Dynamite Kansai & Mohammad Yone & Maya Hashimoto vs. Alexander Otsuka & Azumi Hyuga & Hikari Fukuoka. 4:11 shown
JJC Sodatsuleaguesen Yushoketteisn: Minoru Tanaka vs. Masaaki Mochizuki. 5:03 shown
4/26 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
NWA World Middleweight Title: The Great Sasuke vs. Minoru Tanaka. 5:04 shown
Alexander Otsuka vs. Daisuke Ikeda. 4:28 shown
5/14 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
Ryuji Hijikata vs. Yoshinori Sasaki. :50 shown
Carl Malenko vs. Mach Junji. 1:33
Tiger Mask & Ikuto Hidaka vs. Gran Naniwa & Masaaki Mochizuki. 4:50 shown
Masao Orihara & Takeshi Ono vs. Katsumi Usuda & Ryuji Yamakawa. 3:57 shown
Independent World World Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Naoki Sano vs. Minoru Tanaka. 4:56 shown
Alexander Otsuka & Mohammad Yone vs. Hayabusa & Tetsuhiro Kuroda. 5:16 shown
Daisuke Ikeda vs. Bob Backlund. 2:44 shown
Bed Of Nails Death Match: Yuki Ishikawa vs. Mitsuhiro Matsunaga
6/9/99 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Independent World World Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Naoki Sano vs. Katsumi Usuda. 3:32 shown
Joe Malenko & Carl Malenko (Carl Greco) vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Daisuke Ikeda. 5:21 shown
*I have a limited amount of additional 1st gen SP tapes*
7/20/99
Young Generations Battle '99: Carl Malenko [2] vs. Katsumi Usuda [0] 8:52
Alexander Otsuka & Ikuto Hidaka vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Ryuji Hijikata 12:40
Young Generations Battle '99: Mohammed Yone [2] vs. Yuki Ishikawa [0] 12:27
YGB Digest
7/29/99
Alexander Otsuka & Katsumi Usuda vs. Ikuto Hidaka & Ryuji Hijikata
Young Generations Battle '99: Carl Malenko vs. Takeshi Ono
Young Generations Battle '99: Minoru Tanaka vs. Mohammed Yone
Young Generations Battle '99: Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda
Highlights of 14 Young Generation Battle matches
Young Generation Battle '99 Koshikileaguesen: Mohammad Yone vs. Katsumi Usuda. 4 min shown
Young Generation Battle '99 Koshikileaguesen: Yuki Ishikawa vs. Carl Malenko. 4:30 shown
Young Generation Battle '99 Koshikileaguesen: Alexander Otsuka vs. Takeshi Ono. 3:45 shown
Young Generation Battle '99 Koshikileaguesen: Daisuke Ikeda vs. Minoru Tanaka. 3:30 shown
Young Generation Battle '99 Koshikileaguesen: Mohammad Yone vs. Carl Malenko. 4:15 shown
Rastaman digest
Yushosen Shinshutsu Ketteisen (advance to the championship decision match): Daisuke Ikeda vs. Mohammad Yone. **1/2
Young Generation Battle '99 Yushoketteisen: Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda. Ikeda wins YGB '99. ****
ACTIVE-B in Aomori taped 9/23/99 Aomori-ken Min Taiikukan Sub Arena
Daisuke Ikeda & Katsumi Usuda vs. Mohammad Yone & Takashi Ono. The 1/3 that aired was decent, but what aired was the best stuff.
Naoki Sano vs. Ikuto Hidaka. ***
Yuki Ishikawa & Kazunari Murikami vs. Alexander Otsuka & Ryuji Hijikata. **
taped 9/26/99 Miyagi Shiraishi Kinrosha Taiiku Center
Yuki Ishikawa & TAKA Michinoku & Kazunari Murikami vs. Alexander Otsuka & Mohammad Yone & Ikuto Hidaka. ***1/2
Independent World Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Naoki Sano vs. Minoru Tanaka. ***
Gran Hamada & Masaaki Mochizuki (Buko Dojo) vs. Masao Orihara (Mebius) & Takeshi Ono. Digest
Kazunari Murakami (U.F.O.) vs. Mohammad Yone. *1/4
TNT (Savio Vega) vs. Daisuke Ikeda. 1/2*
The Great Sasuke & Yuki Ishikwa vs. Jinsei Shinzaki & Alexander Otsuka. Nice spots, but they didn't seem to lead anywhere. Highlight was a new double German suplex (three guys together-one getting suplexed, one suplexing and getting suplexed, and one suplexing). **1/2
Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Fujita vs. Mach Junji & Ryuji Hijikata. About half of the match is shown. I hoped that Hidaka & Fujita could draw Junji & Hijikata up, but unfortunately it was the other way around.
Tiger Mask vs. Katsumi Usuda. 1st U.W.F. with a few high spots at the end by Tiger. *1/4
Independent World Junior Heavykyu Senshuken. Naoki Sano vs. Curry Man. Curry Man was badly outclassed. Sano looked good on offense, but Curry Man got to control the match since he was jobbing. Curry's antics got little reaction and his offense was too deliberate and light. *1/2
TAKA Michinoku vs. Minoru Tanaka 19:26. TAKA did Tanaka's very technical quasi-shoot style match with an occasional bomb, similar to Mariko Yoshida's early matches in ARSION. The pro style spots they used, with the exception of TAKA's enzui missile kick, were worked in really well, though, in general, the choice of holds seemed too random despite both working each other's knees and Tanaka also attacked TAKA's left arm. It wasn't the most exciting match, but I felt what kept it from being truly memorable is that indescriminate nature to the choice of the next hold. TAKA put the submissions over in a major way, although they tended to stay in the submissions a bit too long to be credible. They have great chemistry, working smoothly and transitioning really effectively. TAKA's slaps looked weak, but otherwise the execution was about perfect. ***3/4
Ikuto Hidaka & Mach Junji vs. Minoru Fujita & Ryuji Hijikata. Junji is crap as always, but Hidaka & Fujita are really good. 4:49 shown.
Katsuji Usuda & Carl Malenko vs. Masao Orihara & Takashi Ono. 4:38 shown.
Minoru Tanaka vs. Curry Man. Tanaka looks great here. 3:42 shown.
Independent World Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Naoki Sano vs. Masaaki Mochizuki. Fast-paced exciting match with near falls back and forth for basically the whole match. Spotfest with no selling, but they really chained their spots together. ***1/2
Daisuke Ikeda & Kazunari Murakami vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Mohammad Yone. Good stiff match with Ikeda & Ishikawa working well together as always. ***1/4
Highlights of Mitsuhiro Matsunaga's previous matches in Battlarts
Alexander Otsuka vs. Mitsuhiro Matsunaga. Otsuka brawled from the get go and really took it to Matsunaga, who juiced heavily inside of two minutes. Otsuka bled even heavier after Matsunaga carved his head up with a pointy object. The match was okay for what it was, especially given Matsunaga was involved. There was a lot of blood and some drama, but very little wrestling. **
11/21 Kyoto KBS Hall Tag Battle '99 Koshikleagusen: Yuki Ishikawa & Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Mach Junji. Basic Battlarts match. **1/4
Tag Battle '99 Digest: Otsuka & Anderson vs. Yone & Ono, Ikeda & Junji vs. Otsuka & Anderson, Ishikawa & Mochizuki vs. Usuda & Malenko, Ishikawa & Mochizuki vs. Otsuka & Anderson, Ikeda & Junji vs. Usuda & Malenko, Ishikawa & Mochizuki vs. Yone & Ono
12/4: Mitsuya Nagai vs. Tsubo Genjin. Nagai shouldn't be selling for this clown. 1:10 shown.
12/5 Honkawagoe Pepe Hall
Mitsuya Nagai vs. Mach Junji. Kandori is at ringside scouting Junji. Ono & Junji attack her after the match and lay her out. 5:35 shown.
Alexander Otsuka vs. Takeshi Ono. Ono's sequences were better than normal, but it was still only adequate. 4:51 shown.
Daisuke Ikeda vs. Andy Anderson. Anderson is pretty good and has potential, but isn't a great bumper. Ikeda made it a solid match. 6:22 shown
Tag Battle '99 Yushoketteisen: Yuki Ishikawa & Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Katsumi Usuda & Carl Malenko. Stiff match with good execution. A ton of knockdowns but the selling wasn't good and they didn't make them have much meaning. **1/2
Takeshi Ono vs. Ryuji Hijikata. They had some problems going from one move to the next, but otherwise it was adequate. *1/4
Minoru Tanaka vs. Tsubo Genjin. Tanaka pins the goofy caveman in 6 seconds, but then agrees to give him a second chance. Match was somewhat entertaining in a perverted way, as Genjin's offense is all below the belt and Tanaka wasn't afraid to give it back to him.
Alexander Otsuka & Katsumi Usuda vs. Masaaki Mochizuki & SAITO. SAITO did some good moves, but he didn't do the kick, suplex, submission style of the other guys, and subsequently didn't work well with Otsuka. It got off to slow start, but the second half had good action even though there was no direction or focus. Mochizuki was the best of the bunch. **
Daisuke Ikeda & Mach Junji vs. Mitsuya Nagai & Mohammed Yone. Nagai is already comfortable in this style, and him and Ikeda were the match. Junji just got destroyed, but in this role he didn't suck. Like Yone, Junji didn't add anything to the match, but watching Nagai punt him was pretty cool. **1/2