Some 00s Battlarts (Ikeda, Ono...Kamen Shooter Super Rider?)

Daisuke Ikeda v Mitsuya Nagai (Battlarts, 1/30/00)

This was alright in parts but overall didn't do a ton for me. Nagai looked pretty lost more than once here, visibly calling sequences while sort of ambling around the ring with Ikeda as he tried to conceal it. He threw some decent kicks and had a couple tights submissions, at least. Ikeda was more Ishikawa than Ikeda as he assumed the role of underdog absorbing a ton of punishment. I love Ikeda, but he's not likely to work in that role the way Ishikawa does so it didn't totally connect with me. The best parts of the match were when he was clobbering Nagai and he about decapitated him more than once towards the end. His rolling kick off the top rope was an awesome spot as well. From memory Nagai has a few strong bouts in Battlarts, but this wasn't really one of them. As a comparison I'm interested in seeing the singles match with Ishikawa.


Takeshi Ono v Kamen Shooter Super Rider (Battlarts, 1/7/01)

Six minutes shown from a nine minute match probably isn't the best use of Takeshi Ono at this point, but hey, it was six minutes of Takeshi Ono knocking lumps out some doofus in a Kamen Rider mask so I guess it was fun for what it was. Super Rider is a Sayama trainee and has a handful of decent kicks, but his role in this match was to be hit hard and often. Ono landed a couple outrageous hooks and straight rights, a few wild high kicks, brutal knees, one front kick that probably splatted Rider's nose all over the inside of his mask; it was a pretty aloof, almost disinterested Ono performance (he probably knew himself that there were better things he could be getting up to) yet it carried with it a dangerous sort of violence. He also kicked this scrub in the dick with one of the best low blows I've ever seen. Initially Super Rider caught his attempted roundhouse kick, then ducked the enziguri, but as soon as Ono landed he flipped onto his back and hit an upkick to the privates. That finish was some bullshit, though. Who employs these refs?