Ryuji Hijakata is in hell, unfortunately for him, he is alone with the devil.
Yuki Ishikawa is someone who I know a bit about but someone who I want to learn and dive into way more. I already recognise from what I have seen that he's one the rawest and straight up best wrestlers of all time, so him coming up against a BattlArts trainee, one who had left to join All Japan, with the match taking place within the walls of puroresu? It sounds tantalising. In short, I felt I was familiar with both Ishikawa and the knowledge of BattlArts enough to know what I am getting myself into, or so I thought.
Hijakata makes quite possibly the biggest mistake of his career here as Ishikawa is making his entrance; he jumps him before he's even had a chance to even enter the ring, in this moment I knew that Hijakata was fucked, little did I know to the extent of what that'd be. Very quickly, before the bell has even rang both men are in the crowd and brawling, I say both men but really what is happening is Ishikawa absolutely bitching Hijakata, Ryuji gets maybe 3 seconds of control after initially throwing Ishikawa into the crowd but as soon as he's on his feet? It's over. A slap and a couple of well placed elbows are thrown by Ishikawa, before he quickly applies a front facelock and throwing him into the chairs in the crowd. For as much as he's being thrown around though, Hijakata will never show fear and for better or worse (it is most definitely worse) he keeps on pushing forward at Ishikawa, nailing him with a huge slap that does nothing but anger him and Hijakata takes a couple of punches and knees for his trouble. Finally at this point, Ishikawa enters the ring and much like Hijakata didn't allow him any pleasantries, Ishikawa does the same, nailing a huge enzuigiri as Hijakata climbs up onto the apron.
This enzuigiri, this simple kick from Ishikawa is a personally delivered, first class ticket to hell, no returns allowed. It takes Hijakata a moment to collect himself and get back on the apron and for good reason, as when you next see him, you see a river of blood begin to flow down his body, onto his chest. Even with this though, there is still fire, there is still no fear and there is yet another slap to Ishikawa who once again, with a forearm and a kick this time, easily drops Hijakata. It is at this moment, as Ryuji Hijakata is dropped that you see the real consequences of his actions, the entire surrounding area of his left eye is dark red and for lack of a better term: blood is pissing out of his eyebrow. Whenever Ishikawa connects a punch or a forearm, his arm is left red with the blood of Hijakata, his body stained with the blood of a victim and even though Hijakata will not die, hitting yet another slap, it would be more merciful to himself if he did. Ishikawa doesn't even need to retaliate this time, if anything, he may not of had the chance to as the slap sends him stumbling towards the ropes, Hijakata though cannot even stand upright, drunkenly stumbling backwards across the ring into the opposite ropes, attempting to wipe the blood away which just causes more to pour out.
It's at this point we have a pause in the match, the referee puts his body between Ishikawa and the rest of the ring, allowing the doctor to come in and attempt to tend to the wound. If this was the UFC, the fight would've been stopped, the blood is uncontrollable, wiping it with a towel allows us to see Hijakata's face clean for all of half a second if that. Through everything though, yet again, Hijakata refuses to die; Ishikawa can't stop him, the doctors can't stop him, the only thing that may be able to stop him is his own body giving out but until he gets to that point, he is going to fight because against Yuki Ishikawa, against Satan himself, all you can do is fight. After around 40 seconds and with one more wipe of his face, Ryuji Hijakata charges once more at Yuki Ishikawa, dropping him with a forearm, getting himself his first advantage of the match. Unfortunately however, this advantage lasts for all of about 5 seconds, Ishikawa quickly regains control on the ground, before picking up Hijakata and nailing him with yet another enzuigiri and following it up with a Backdrop.
There is something fascinating about blood though, about the reaction it causes people to have. There's just something about it, seeing yourself leak blood, your life force literally pouring out of you; it should make you weaker, it should make you want to qui, to stop, to give up and yet, it doesn't and if anything it does the opposite. The sight of it, the smell of it, the feeling of it running down your body, dripping onto your hands, it lights the most primal of fires inside, there is something about being so close to the edge that makes you feel so very alive, in this moment, Ryuji Hijakata is the embodiment of this, the backdrop should've been the nail in the coffin, but it wasn't, Hijakata rises immediately, a roar from deep within emitted before once again, laying in his biggest slap onto Ishikawa, dropping him, yet for all that power and spirit put behind that slap, everyone's tank must run empty eventually, Hijakata drops to his knees, half of his face deep red and before he can even try and capitalise on knocking down Ishikawa, he is being kicked in the head yet again by him.
There is one last bit of fight left within Hijakata, a few more slaps rock Ishikawa, it's at the point though where nothing matters, Hijakata is prolonging the inevitable, you cannot beat the devil, especially when you cannot stand. Ishikawa nails one final enzuigiri before getting into half-guard and raining down punches, it's at this point, the referee calls for the bell, Hijakata hasn't submitted, he hasn't even been knocked out, this is a mercy from the referee. Who knows how far Hijakata was willing to push himself, we all know that Ishikawa gladly wouldn't have relented, likely only becoming more and more aggressive as the match progressed, you can't say Hijakata didn't ask for this, what goes around comes around and it came around like a freight train almost immediately.
I feel though the happenings post-match though are the most powerful, Hijakata is tended to in the corner, sitting there, looking at his hand as he watched it pool up with his blood, Ishikawa by the ropes, not leaving the ring, looking pleased and proud at what he's accomplished (something which is shown even more-so in his backstage interview, his facial expression is pure evil, there is joy there) yet still, Hijakata pulls himself up, screaming towards Ishikawa, causing him to finally leave. Although Hijakata has lost the match, he is never beaten, he not only survived, he thrived in hell, he awoke the devil that he knew was within Yuki Ishikawa, stood toe to toe with him and lived to tell the tale and no matter how badly you can get beaten, no matter how much you lose, surviving is the ultimate victory, always.
One of the best sub 5 minute matches I have ever seen and a match immediately added to my 100 Greatest Matches Ever draft.
Rating: *****
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