Punching Frustration
The newest edition of Timothy Thatcher’s FIGHT column
Timothy Thatcher is a professional wrestler who has been perfecting the craft for the past two decades. The current Foreman of EVOVLE, Thatcher has wrestled in NXT, AEW, NOAH, wXw, and practically everywhere else you can imagine. His intense, authentic style adds a legitimacy to pro wrestling, and it will be on display during WrestleMania Week when he wrestles Charlie Dempsey at GCW’s Bloodsport XV in Vegas. Thatcher also brings that hard-hitting style to Undisputed every month with a new column.
PUNCHING FRUSTRATION
Because we are not hitting each other, we are hitting the fucking stupid people in the world who think that pro wrestling is fake like a trained monkey show. They say that pro wrestling kicks are fake so it is not painful etc. Once they see our fight, they have nothing to say. They watch our fight like a fool with their mouth open with surprise. So our violent fight is not only for our opponents but for the fucking people that make light of BATTLARTS. Our fight is anger towards people who make light of us.
- Yuki Ishikawa interview by Dave Ditch, 2009
What could I write after that? If you don’t understand why I would admire someone like this, the following words won’t persuade you. But I shall give it a go because Yuki Ishikawa should be mentioned and known by more people than already do.
Mr. Ishikawa’s entire pro wrestling adventure was based on passion, determination, and defiance. He fought against the “common sense” of adults when he was growing up who told him he couldn’t be a pro wrestler. The way into pro wrestling was not possible for someone like him. He wasn’t related to anyone already involved in pro wrestling. No wrestling schools. Not a high-level athlete in other sports. He could do a tryout for the major pro wrestling companies but at his size even, if he did well, he would be told to go away. But he looked to Antonio Inoki, leader of New Japan Pro Wrestling, who would tell people that their dream was possible. They would just have to earn it through hard work and dedication.
So Mr. Ishikawa earned it. He would tell me that he would do 4000 squats in silence, staring at a wall. He traveled to Odessa, Florida to find Karl Gotch. Mr. Inoki had patterned New Japan off Mr. Gotch’s teachings and professional wrestling style. All Mr. Ishikawa had was a magazine with a photo of Mr. Gotch standing out front of his house. There was a big tree and a lake by it. No address. How hard could it be to find it? Extremely. But determination led him to find Mr. Gotch’s home. Much to Karl Gotch’s surprise.
Returning to Japan, Mr. Ishikawa was a student of Yoshiaki Fujiwara (as in Fujiwara armbar). He wrestled for Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi. PWFG was a straightforward “shoot style” company in Japan in the early 1990s. Other members included Ken Shamrock, Minoru Suzuki and Masakatsu Funaki before they left and formed the early proper mixed martial arts fighting organization Pancrase. After one of Mr. Ishikawa’s matches at PWFG, he stood across the ring from the man who told him his dream was possible. Antonio Inoki was an invited guest to the event. After seeing Yuki Ishikawa’s match, Mr. Inoki was so fired up he jumped in the ring and said he wanted to wrestle. So Mr. Ishikawa volunteered and a sparring session occurred. Afterwards he was able to tell Mr. Inoki that because of him, Mr. Ishikawa had the passion to follow his dream.
In 1996, due to problems with management (not Fujiwara-san), Yuki Ishikawa led a group of rookies to leave PWFG to form the BattlArts organization. He was only about three years into his career. Everyone else who came with him had less experience. But they all had no other options. Passion, determination, and defiance. He became the leader. He had to build something that was his own. Taking all the legitimate catch-as-catch-can techniques he had learned from previous teachers, he continued to teach the six combatants that had joined him. BattlArts had no pinfalls. Every match was won by knockout or submission. It was the straightforward sport of professional wrestling. BattlArts needed to be different to Japanese organizations that had a similar style such as PWFG, Union of Wrestling Forces International (UWFi), or Fighting Network RINGS. So BattlArts did away with the point system. A competitor would lose points if they were knocked down, used a rope escape or suplexed. This way the match would only end on a submission or knock out.
A pro wrestling organization that was full of young, hungry, and incredibly dedicated roster can’t help but leave an impression on those who see it. The matches are a display of science and violence. The competitors convey an atmosphere of danger. The strikes are all hard. The holds use proper technique and are applied in full. There is no pattern to be found. Everyone fights with their heart. It is simple but complex. It is wild and subtle at the same time. It became known as Bati-Bati style. No one personified this more than Mr. Ishikawa.
This was held up by his actions not just in the ring but outside them as well. Many factors play the part in keeping a pro wrestling organization going. BattlArts was a smaller company that was fighting against the system of major companies in Japan. The company would also be known as Fighting Investigation Team BattlArts as they would work with other companies. They were investigating the other styles of pro wrestling to improve the BattlArts style. Some of the companies were Michinoku Pro (lucha libre), Big Japan (death match) and ARSION (joshi). This way they could provide variety for the fan base, appear in different environments and extend the message of BattlArts. All without giving up on their principles.
At Pride Fighting Championship 17 in 2001, Yuki Ishikawa fought Rampage Jackson. This was not for personal glory but to assist in keeping BattlArts going. Mr. Ishikawa told me he felt no fear for the fight and was looking forward to punching Rampage. That is exactly what he did. He came out swinging. No fear! He punched Rampage. Unfortunately at the time, Rampage was on a whole other level so it did little to slow him down. Rampage would be victorious, but Mr. Ishikawa did not back down from the fight.
The feud that really embodied BattlArts was Yuki Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda. Mr. Ikeda was the wild striker. Unpredictable, unhinged. Sure, he had holds–but he would rather bludgeon. Mr. Ishikawa is technique and control first. Having a game plan. But when pushed to it, the violence came out. Both individuals were hard as nails and the determination, and defiance they showed in their matches is so admirable. Iron will. Not letting anyone tell them what to do or how to do things. They took it out on each other. They took it out on anyone who got in the ring with them. Nothing silly, only credible actions. These matches were incredible spectacles of professional wrestling. So much so that this match was the main event of the final BattlArts card on November 5, 2011.
Also on that card, a later student of Mr. Ishikawa competed. At the time she was known as Kana but would become better known worldwide in the WWE as Asuka. She is an incredibly unique performer that can convey her message worldwide. She brought technique and violence to the world of sports entertainment. She learned this from Mr. Ishikawa. Traveling far distances to train with him regularly, she wanted to bring something different to her professional wrestling. When she came to WWE, no woman was safe from Asuka’s wrath.
Another WWE star that owes a lot to Mr. Ishikawa is Santino Marella. While Marella is a very entertaining character, Anthony Carelli is a very dangerous man1. He was a judo champion in his home country of Canada. He spent a year in Japan at BattlArts training under Mr. Ishikawa. He always credited that time as what helped him get his foot in the door to WWE. So much so that when Mr. Carelli opened his gym in Mississauga, Ontario Canada he named it the Battle Arts Academy. He brought Mr. Ishikawa from Japan to be the main coach at his gym. Mr. Carelli believes that it is important for anyone involved in pro wrestling to have an understanding of proper technique in various forms of combat sports. So for five years Yuki Ishikawa was teaching in Mississauga.
This was where I was lucky enough to begin my time with him. In 2015, myself and a friend of mine from Sacramento, JR Kratos traveled to Canada just for Mr. Ishikawa’s teachings. He couldn’t believe that we had shown up solely to learn from him. Mr. Carelli allowed us to sleep in the MMA cage that was in the gym. So we literally were living at the gym for three weeks. Wake up when the morning cleaner comes in, put our stuff away and cook our breakfast in the kitchen. Then, pitter patter it was time to get at ‘er. We spent as much time as we could learning from Mr. Ishikawa. He was kind enough to spend all the time with us sharing his knowledge and his stories. Even in between his classes he would work with us.
One day he decided it was a good idea for all of us to do the deck of cards training. Four exercises (two kinds of squats, push ups and abs) decided by suit and card value decided the reps. All squats were doubled. As we did it all together, we hit a long run of only squat cards. Mr. Ishikawa, despite being 16 years older than us, did not break a sweat and kept his pace as we were slowing down a bit. He kept laughing and saying, “Not my fault!”
Mr. Ishikawa cooked us his famous Japanese curry at the end of our stay. It is power food. Really great after all the training we had done. JR summed it up when he said, “You cook for your family. It really is an honor for someone like him to be so kind to us.”
I went back the following summer to do it all over again. This time Mr. Ishikawa was kind enough to let me stay at his home, which is an incredible act of kindness. I got to see that teaching was his life. He was doing it so he could continue in professional wrestling after BattlArts in Japan had closed down. He would send all his money back to Japan for his two sons. Once again, passion and determination in doing what needed to be done. I was really grateful for the amount of training we were able to do. It was so enjoyable and I miss being able to be that dedicated. At this point in my life, I probably wouldn’t survive it.
A few years later I was living in Germany, wrestling for westside Xtreme wrestling (wXw). They expressed interest in bringing in Mr. Ishikawa for their big 16 Carat festival in March of 2019. I thankfully had stayed in contact with him and so I got them in touch. There are so many reasons that I am and always will be grateful for wXw. This is one of them. They gave me a singles match against Yuki Ishikawa.
It was fought in his style. It was another one of those matches that meant so much to me. Someone that I had looked up to in the ring, then had spent so much time outside of the ring with. I admired the passion, determination, and defiance. That night we punched frustration together. In the end, the Oberhausen crowd that also meant so much to me gave Mr. Ishikawa the respect he deserves. A standing ovation for someone who had given it all for his dream and doesn’t always get recognized or rewarded for it. Those Germans really know and respect professional wrestling.
Later that summer, I had a second singles match with Mr. Ishikawa. This time it was in Toronto. WWE was in town for SummerSlam. They were holding a tryout and we were able to go visit. Mr. Ishikawa got introduced to some important decision makers who were there. He got to watch some of his students from the Battle Arts Academy give it a go in front of the talent scouts. It really was a good day.
The big finale was the following year at 16 Carat 2020. It had been announced that Yuki Ishikawa would wrestle Daisuke Ikeda. Even though I had been signed to NXT the month prior, I was allowed to go. I stood and watched the two warriors battle one more time. Passion, determination, and defiance. Both men were in their 50s. It didn’t matter. They fought with their heart and soul. Everything left in the ring. The audience felt everything. I wish I had half the skill and will of the combatants. When the bell sounded, Oberhausen gave both men a huge standing ovation. As they should have!
Mr. Ishikawa said as he came around the corner at the hotel that evening, he startled a woman. She began to cry. He apologized repeatedly and she said she was crying not because he startled her but because his fight with Mr. Ikeda had so much passion it overwhelmed her with emotion. Two masters of the craft.
The next night wXw gave me my send off. Myself and Yuki Ishikawa battled Walter and Daisuke Ikeda. Now it was my turn to be emotional. I am a very lucky fella to have been part of wXw when I was. I am a very lucky fella to have been a part of the match. I am a very lucky fella to have spent all that time with Mr. Ishikawa. I also was very lucky because three days later the world shut down because of Covid! Years later when I was working for Pro Wrestling NOAH in Japan, I would go and see him. I would get to train with him at the kickboxing/MMA gym he teaches at now. He cornered me and Santino Marella at Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport Bushido in the summer of 2024. If I can harness just a quarter of the amount of passion, determination, and defiance of Yuki Ishikawa and stay far away from the trained monkey show, I can say I did alright.
Santino Marella vs. Kazushi Sakaraba at Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport Bushido from June 22, 2024 shows what he can do when the situation calls for it.