Hey again y'all! Finally getting back into the swing of things with writing and there's been a lot more wrestling stuff interesting me lately, so here I am!
I'm not really sure what the thought process was behind picking these specific matches, but they just so happened to be what I watched today so let's get to it, shall we?
Beastman & Mad Dog Connelly vs. Bam Sullivan & Matt Tremont (JCW 6/12/2025) - GOOD
I was at the show where these teams had their original matchup last month (at JCW May Flowers 5/11/2025) and loved every second of it. It was an awesome, brutal brawl that riled up a crowd that wasn't going too crazy before that. There, they had the co-main event spot and that was for the worst as it's pretty difficult to follow that up. This time, they got the main event spot and it was even better.
In comparison to their previous match, this one is upgraded in basically every way. More chaos, more violence, and more mayhem. While I loved being there for that first one, I was a bit soured by the no contest finish after a brawl like that. It just didn't make much sense given everything else that happened in the match. Here, the "Mayhem in the Mecca" stipulation definitely allowed for more leniency in that regard and I loved the touch of the music playing throughout the match. Made it feel like it was actually different.
The brawling was great here, even if somewhat simple. Sometimes, simpler is better and that's the case for most of this one. Something in particular that stood out to me was Mad Dog's punching. He's such a good puncher, man.
I understand the point of these tags has been to build up a Mad Dog/Tremont singles, but the matches 100% can stand on their own pretty well. With that being said though, I think that finish does a great job at pushing that rivalry further.
If I had one complaint about the match, it felt like it went a few minutes too long, but I also enjoyed everything in the match so maybe not? What do I know?
This match is awesome, go watch it now.
Keita Yano vs. Tsuyoshi Okada (Dove Pro Still Dove 2/9/2025) - FUN
Was very excited to see Dove Pro release this a few weeks ago as I continue my journey in watching all the Keita Yano matches in 2025 that make tape. I haven't seen much Tsuyoshi Okada before, I believe this is my first time watching him in singles action. Keita, as usual, will be impossible for me to root against.
This is a "KOK Rules" match, meaning that there are 3 rounds, 5 minutes each. With Keita's grappling and Okada's MMA gloves, I can imagine the logic behind this being the basis of this matchup.
I really love the character that Keita Yano portrays, even if it's not always a character per se. He's a scrawny little fella that is almost always physically lesser than his opponents, yet he can sometimes find a way to get past them. In this match, he looks like he's genuinely overwhelmed whenever Tsuyoshi Okada is able to outpower him, both on the ground and on the feet. I think the finish does a great job at showing how this affects his decision-making and aggressiveness.
Nice match, I liked it. God bless Keita Yano.
Daisuke Ikeda vs. Yuki Ishikawa (PWFG 8/12/1995) - GREAT
So I got a kind of interesting story about this one.
First of all, huge thank you/shoutout to Jom and his greatest, most ambitious project yet, Insect's Soul. He put in an incredible effort to shine a light on so much different amazing independent wrestling and I've learned about so many promotions and wrestlers as a result.
This was a notable inclusion on the list for multiple reasons. One, it's an Ikeda/Ishikawa match. Not just any Ikeda/Ishikawa match, but their 2nd ever. Two, it's PWFG and I was kind of shocked to see a promotion like this on the list. I get it wasn't like the biggest organization, but it's probably one of the most well-known, compared to the rest of the companies listed. And three, I could not find this match for the life of me.
You can very easily find almost all of the PWFG broadcasts on VK or Internet Archive, yet this show is weird. It doesn't seem to have been traditionally broadcast/released like the rest of the shows, and nobody had it anywhere I could find online. But, I knew it had to have been taped because Jom's listing for it had included a gif of the match that very much was from a broadcast camera, and also this was a Korakuen Hall show, I'd be shocked if it wasn't recorded anywhere.
Many hours spent searching later, I couldn't even find the show or the match on any of the pages of the tape traders I was aware of either. Losing a bit of hope of finding this (at least, finding it anytime soon), a friend had asked around about the footage in the GWE discord. A few people answered that it probably wasn't taped and that it had been on a lot of people's footage wishlists for a while. Damn.
And then, after like a day or two, somebody just sent a google drive link of the full show. Well then. That story ends there I guess.
Onto the match now.
Jom described this as Ikeda and Ishikawa's "most 'shoot-style' matchup to date" and I could see where he's coming from. Bati-Bati is fascinating because it's not shoot-style, but it's also not not shoot-style, y'know? In a way, a lot of the portrayal of struggle that shoot-style is praised for is demonstrated in a more aggressive, attacking way in Bati-Bati. I don't really understand any of this wrestling stuff much but I think there's a beauty to how that struggle is able to resonate with those who watch. Huh.
The stylistic difference between this and their other matchups make a lot more sense when you also factor in that this is taking place in Fujiwara's promotion. This feels a lot more grapple-heavy than their other encounters and the struggle is best shown through the "escape". When they roll out of the ring (multiple times), when Ikeda needs to push himself as close to the ropes as he can to get out of a submission, when Ishikawa has to counter Ikeda's counters. It's all meaningful and inspiring?
You do get some of the Ikeda/Ishikawa experience, like when they start slapping each other while Ikeda mounts Ishikawa or when Ishikawa roundhouses Ikeda for a knockdown, but even then it's different still.
Yes, this is an interesting watch for the novelty alone. It's the 2nd ever Ikeda and Ishikawa singles match and it's in PWFG. But you also get a really good wrestling match that displays another side of what these two can do to each other.
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Thank you for reading my thoughts on these matches today; I hope you enjoyed. If you didn't, that's alright too. Let me know if you have any thoughts, criticisms, ideas, or whatever in the comments or get in touch with me on my Twitter page.
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