Hidaka & Ishii vs. T. Mask IV & Yuasa (Michinoku Pro 2/3/02)

Ikuto Hidaka & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tiger Mask IV & Kazuya Yuasa (Michinoku Pro 2/3/2002)

Tomohiro Ishii comes out in full on Dick Togo worship gear. Amazing. This was a shockingly great indy tag with all 4 guys smacking eachother hard while working complex spots and cutoffs. We get lots of fun heel tactics from Rudo Hidaka and Ishii which was interesting to see these two go back and forth between throwing hard shots and working Stunning Steve Austin/Fuerza Guerrera heel spots. Hidaka likes slapping his thigh but he really does paste guys with his kicks. This was one of the greater Tiger Mask IV performances I've seen too as he looked like a graceful technico while also spin kicking dudes really really hard. Him almost crushing Hidakas ribs with a massive kneedrop and Hidaka coming up bloody was a pretty epic moment. All their brief showdowns really made me want to see a singles match between the two which is not something I would've said from watching their BattlARTS material. Kazuya Yuasa is the future GAINA and he works like a WAR rookie here, hitting as hard as he possibly can on his dropkicks and lariats and hitting awesome bulldogs and elbow drops. He survives a ton of punishment and it builds to him and Ishii trying to crack eachothers jaws with lariats. The finishing run wasn't as brilliantly tricked out as the body of the match but what the hell... it's a great little discovery.