superkix

Loved the flurried slap-action to open and the frantic way Funaki counters out of the rear waistlock to ground Maeda with the wakigatame, really cranking it on. They convey good struggle for control and for the most part, Funaki's able to roll with a lot of Maeda's punches so to speak...you know, except for when Maeda is repeatedly rocking him kicks on the ropes. I like that even when they're on the mat, Funaki is still trying to drive home a few knees and boots, and his slaps are as nasty as usual. Maeda has a hard time slowing Funaki down, despite the suplexes and focused legwork, and eventually has to choke him out to win. Great stuff.

Decent match. The matwork felt restrained and there were some awkward hesitations most likely due to Rutten adjusting to the worked "shoot-style" environment. Rutten keeps staggering Malenko with high kicks but can't really cinch anything in on the ground except for a kimura, whereas Malenko keeps sending Rutten to the ropes by focusing on the arm but obviously can't outstrike Rutten. In the end, Rutten's kicks win out, when he connects with a shot to Malenko's ribs, downing him for the TKO victory.

This is #3 in their trilogy of matches but it had some cool power vs. technique dynamics. Sekimoto uses his beefiness to try and keep Suzuki grounded but Hideki's too slick and works over the arm a decent amount, standing on it, standing on Sekimoto's face because . Sekimoto doesn't really sell the arm though and starts throwing his muscle around, using Suzuki's own double arm suplex. They trade strikes and suplexes, and in the end, Sekimoto uses the deadlift German suplex to pin Suzuki. Decent match but typical Sekimoto match.

Bas Rutten wrestled a total of 6 matches in NJPW, two of which I've seen, and his last match in NJPW was against Koji Kanemoto for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title. Not to my surprise, he plays pro-wrestler quite well. Sure, he's got some goofy...uh, dropkicks...but he knows how to work the fans and he sells Kanemoto's legwork well. He's able to use his raw strength to muscle Kanemoto into predicaments or escape them, like his awesome powerbomb counter to the triangle. At one point, he just starts slamming Kanemoto's head into the canvas. And of course, we get some slick matwork from Bas. Kanemoto's clearly overshadowed here, and while he'll get in some mounted tantrum slaps or go back to the leg to set-up the finish, Rutten really makes this match an interesting spectacle of sorts. After he hits Shining Wizard!!, Bas doesn't go for the pin but instead, plays to the crowd, like "hey, I can do this too", but it ultimately costs him the match. Pretty good match and from what I've seen, Rutten's best pro-wrestling performance.

Yeah, this was a real breakout performance for Nomura and I thought his chemistry with Yuji Okabayashi was especially awesome. Tons of fire, a hot crowd, that close stretch was something else. I really liked Yuji's suplex counter to the small package attempt and then just throwing Nomura with the powerbomb when Nomura tries for his new finish. Daisuke was also being more of a dick here, between stepping on Nomura's face and pissing off KAI on the apron. KAI's proven himself to be a good tag team wrestler in AJPW, so it'll be interesting to see if he finds a new partner since Nomura has stated that he is waiting for Jake Lee to return from injury. Personally, I'd love to see KAI and Maruyama team.

This was really good. I like dueling limbwork when it's pulled off in a smart way, and this match manages to do just that, with Sato priming the arm for the jujigatame and HARASHIMA trying to alleviate Sato's kicks by working the leg. This follows the traditional DDT "Main Event" template, with scrambled matwork to start, bouts of snug slap and kick exchanges, and the sudden escalation into bigger offense. The slaps are especially stiff, as Sato's lip gets busted, and HARASHIMA's legwork gets nasty at times with some of those targeted kicks. One of the cooler moments of the match is when Sato's able to go back to the armbar, transitioning into a triangle and as HARASHIMA begins to power out, Sato uses the ropes for a rope-hung armbar, choking HARASHIMA to the point of foaming. Sato's outside running PK takes a lot out of him, which allows HARASHIMA to dropkick the leg out from underneath him on the apron to regain control. They go back to the slaps, with Sato at one point straight up punching HARASHIMA in the face, and the finish was neat, with Sato catching HARASHIMA in an armbar off the springboard. HARASHIMA struggles to get out, at first booting at Sato, then grabbing onto the referee, before finally giving up.

I thought this was a solid match but my least favorite Suzuki defense of the year. Daichi didn't do a whole lot to differentiate his performance from every other mediocre Daichi performance, and it definitely lacked the pissy-ness I was hoping he'd tap into. He showed some dominance early on with his kicks and his headlock, but once Hideki finds a way out, it becomes the Hideki show, cranking cravates and throwing suplexes. He quickly adapts to Hashimoto's strike-based strategy so that when Daichi comes kicking again, he's able to catch a leg and capture suplex him. I liked Daichi's knee counter to the Robinson backbreaker attempt, which sets up a run of offense building toward the finish, but Suzuki quickly cuts him off and puts him down with the double arm suplex.

This was a really good match that had the potential to be fantastic had Miyahara deviated from his go-to formulaic approach. I mean, you had all the Kento "ace" tropes here: the hard in-the-moment selling but convenient bouts of amnesia to shoe in his signature spots and then the final minute comeback barrage of endless knees. But it was a brutally fought match and for the most part, the conveyed struggle, fatigue and desperation on Miyahara's part was great, coupled with the relentless Ishikawa trying to destroy any chance Miyahara has of beating him. I liked all the grunty neckwork building to the gnarly Fire Thunder Driver on the apron that was sold like absolute death by Kento. I thought Miyahara's selling was better than his usual fare but you still have dumb spots like the no sold dragon suplex. Loved the strike exchange toward the end, with an exhausted Miyahara trying to slug away with Ishikawa and Ishikawa just annihilating him. I liked the build to the arm-trap German, with Shuji either using an elbow to escape or just bursting out, but the finish felt very lackluster, especially considering all the punishment Ishikawa had put Miyahara through, including three Fire Thunder Drivers, a bunch of running knees, and a Splash Mountain Bomb. This would have been the perfect opportunity for Ishikawa to kick out of the German and force Miyahara to introduce a new finisher to his repertoire on the biggest stage of the year. But I guess if the formula ain't broke, there's no point in going to the drawing board.

Sometimes in a pro-wrestling match, certain things occur and you think to yourself "well, fuck, why doesn't he just do (blank)?". Whether it's escaping a sticky predicament or blocking a strike, these things may seem obvious to us, the bystander, but more often than not, instinct goes out the window in favor of "dramatic tension". Well, Fujiwara does (blank) a lot, which is why he's one of the greatest scrappy technicians of all time, and this match exemplifies that awareness. How a simple boot to the ass can be used as a counter to a single leg crab, or turning a shoulder or back to a kick, or snagging an arm off a rear waistlock to avoid a suplex and take control of the situation. Good stuff. They open the match trying to grab holds and sink something in until Maeda gives up and just starts kicking at Fujiwara on the mat. He hits an awesome belly-to-back suplex counter to a side headlock attempt but when Maeda misses the big spin kick attempt, Fujiwara takes advantage with the headbutts. They roll out of the ring stuck in a leglock and Fujiwara's able to prevent Maeda from making it back to the ring...so they restart the match and this time, Fujiwara's all over Maeda's arm, trying to cinch in the wakigatame after a swanky roll through. He's able to catch a kick and get the takedown but Maeda slips into a choke sleeper, and the finish of the match is fan-fuckin-tastic, with Fujiwara trying to maneuver to the ropes until he starts foaming at the mouth and the referee calls for the bell.

Yeah, this ruled. Zangiev was great here with his shoot suplexes and simple but effective counters. Hashimoto really sells him as a legitimate and unpredictable threat, which only adds to Zangiev's allure. I like how Hashimoto's frustration builds throughout the match as Zangiev has answers to a lot of Hashimoto's offense. That dosey-doe counter to the headscissors was awesome.

Sometimes you don't need a bloated 30+ minute "epic" and the old standby story of a promotion nobody getting put in his place by the promotion's surly dad is plenty. This ticked a lot of my personal preference boxes when it comes to a pro-wrestling match: grumpy old dude (check), disappointed tag partner (check), a well-sold beatdown (check), Hideki Suzuki (check). Ohtani looked his best here and right out of the gate, he's got zero time for Okuda, laying it in with nasty slaps and knees, shoving Okuda's kicks out of the way in order to dish out more punishment. Takaiwa played the gruff uncle to Ohtani's dad role, being a little more reserved with the bomb-throwing but still kicking ass. And Suzuki, despite not getting much in-ring time, was great as he reprimands his own partner with shitty little kicks and motivational smacks. I thought Okuda took the beating well -- that facewash to the outside looked especially rough -- and when he got the revenge tag, he brought the fire to Ohtani with some terrific machine gun-style elbows in the corner. He goes on to mock Ohtani by walking through the chops but that doesn't impress the old man, who in turn, dumps Okuda on his head not once...but twice with a release dragon suplex to put him away. Good stuff.

You know, I’m all for weapons-based dueling limbwork and I think for the most part, it worked here, with some pretty gnarly spots (that diving elbow drop from the top of the ladder to the outside). You had Sasaki targeting Akito’s neck to set up the crossface, doing crazy things like the Russian legsweep onto a ladder with a wooden block across Akito’s throat and ultimately, winning the match with the chair-assisted crossface hold. You had Akito doing his leg-based thing, blasting Sasaki’s knee with a chair while he’s hung up in the ladder and using a ton of kneebreaker variations. Really liked his double kneebreaker counter to the early crossface attempt. At times, Akito’s selling was terrific but Sasaki’s selling was definitely more miss than hit here, and between that and the near dead crowd atmosphere, this match didn’t reach the same level as Sasaki’s defense against Togo earlier in the year.

This match had its moments and I thought Takeshita’s performance was really great, especially toward the end, but Endo did a good job of centering his offense on Takeshita’s neck and bringing the focus back at various points in the match. I liked the viciousness of it early on and Takeshita’s selling was great for the most part, with him not being able to fully strike back at Endo. However, the backwork on Endo was conveniently ignored in favor of his glitzier offense, some of which didn't quite hit the mark. Some believable nearfalls toward the end and hard-hitting bombs from Takeshita building to the finish. Pretty good match.

This match had its moments but never really got out of second gear. I liked the urgency of the opening action and Alexander running in to dump Yamazaki with the German suplex. Fujita was real grunty and reckless, the way he'd power out of holds and toss the opposition around like sandbags. I thought Yamazaki was the standout here, with his slick as catshit exchanges with Otsuka and him wrenching on Ishikawa. Ishikawa keeps going after Yamazaki’s legs in response to the kicks but the finish came out of nowhere as Yamazaki grabs a cross armbreaker for the submission. Neat match-up on paper but didn’t quite live up to any expectations.

This was a bit of a dumb ole pissing contest between two dudes who are so evenly matched in a lot of ways, although Ohtani is the more compelling of the two in this case. That simple narrative was the crux of this match -- the dueling legwork, the one count suplex swaps, the token face washes -- neither guy really having a clear advantage over the other. I liked Ohtani getting cheeky with the slaps on the ropes but not giving Kanemoto the pleasure. And when Kanemoto breaks out the kicks, Ohtani does the obvious and takes out the leg with a dropkick to set-up the groundwork. Ohtani does such a good job of bringing the focus back to the leg, adding little flourishes like the headbutts to the knee, but for the most part, Kanemoto blows off the legwork. Loved the dragon suplex teases on the floor and off the apron but then there’s also some dumb spots, like the “duh” missed springboard dropkick. It wouldn’t be an Ohtani match without the facewash but when he goes back to the well for a second, Kanemoto catches the foot and capture suplexes him in a neat spot. The dueling legwork nulled itself out as the finishing stretch quickly ramped up with big nearfalls. An evenly matched contest unevenly wrestled.

Preferred both semi-finals (and Okada/Suzuki) to the final itself.

This was 85% Osamu schooling Liger on the mat, working the leg like a part-time job. I liked his aggressive approach at the outset, whipping it on the apron, throwing a hard elbow, kneebreaking it on the guardrail, plus his silky smooth transitions, going from a kneelock to a grounded ankle hold when Liger flips over onto his stomach. Liger tries firing back with chops and slaps but Nishimura's able to trip him up, going into the Indian deathlock, bridging back with the sickle hold, then finishing with the bow-and-arrow hold. However, Liger doesn't really sell the legwork, which is unfortunate considering Osamu's effort. In fact, he doesn't really get much offense in at all and in the end, the 15:00 time limit expires with Liger in Osamu's manjigatame. A cool story in theory that wasn't very compelling.

Your copy-and-paste opening with Suzuki grappling a bit with Sugiura, trading hard elbow shots, working on the back of Tanaka with Sato. His got his cool killer demeanor, at one point calmly walking into the ring and clobbering Sugiura in the face while he's got Sato in the ankle hold before encouraging his partner. Then it quickly takes a trip down to Bomb City where there are no sold super Falcon Arrows and Sato dusting off the Northern Lights Bomb and nutty head-dropping suplex sequences with Tanaka's neck taking the brunt of the punishment. Down the home stretch, Tanaka busts open Sato with a headbutt and it's all over from there. Overkill, sure, but it's to be expected when you get these four together in a ring slugging it out.

A really good title match with some swank matwork, stiff strikes, and arm brutalization, further complimented by Sato’s great selling. Suzuki wants to incapacitate Sato by any means, kicking the arm, standing on it, and just wrenching it to hell. A good defense against Sato’s brutal elbows. When Sato is able to fire back, he relies on his kicks. There’s a fun little spot where Suzuki is struggling to hit the double arm suplex so he says ‘fuck it’ and hits an Exploder instead. The finishing stretch sees some big time offense from both guys, including a desperation sheer-drop Falcon Arrow from Sato and Suzuki folding him in half with a dragon suplex. Much better than their title match last year, which had a similar story of Suzuki working the arm for 85% of the match until Sato hits a couple of moves and it's over.

Pretty good match. Suzuki is the least experienced of the bunch and he’s largely overshadowed by the Ishikawa/Ikeda exchanges. Those two know each other so well, throwing their stiff as day old catshit strikes. Super Tiger seems motivated but still only lands about five out of every ten kicks. I thought Suzuki's matwork was solid and he does a good job of transitioning and modifying his holds as need be. He gets bullied by kicks and doesn’t really have much of a chance to show off his striking ability but gets in a couple of decent throws, including the double arm suplex into the double wristlock. In the end, he gets clobbered by Ikeda's short-arm lariat and eats a nasty solebutt to end the match.

I'd only seen a clipped version of this a few years ago so it's cool to see it in its entirety. I like Fujinami's hesitation in the face of Hashimoto's unpredictability and how playing too much defense backfired. Fujinami's old man selling was good and of course, his "enough is enough" moment is awesome, with Hashimoto quickly shutting him down with a barrage. As others mentioned, I thought the finish was terrific, with Fujinami really tapping into the fluidity of the sleeper hold, transitioning the different variations depending on Hashimoto's position or attempts to break free. Really good stuff.

I currently have this right above the Kawakami defense but behind three other Hideki Suzuki matches. But I really loved that Kawakami match (I'm probably in the minority there) so it may end up getting bumped down upon re-watch.

This really didn't pick up for me until the end and even then, it felt a little bloated and it's obvious now that Naito needs to come up with something other than the Destino to use as his "big match" finish. I did like the general sloppiness of this match as opposed to a squeaky clean Omega spotfest, with the "botched" piledriver off the table and ringpost DDT adding something of an unstable element to the overall narrative. Naito's performance underneath was terrific, especially in the backhalf...that fainting spot during the knee strikes was awesome. But in the end, this was exhausting and a little too self-indulgent for my tastes. I preferred Okada/Omega 3 much more to this and even last year's Naito/Omega spectacle.

This was essentially a glorified squash match but masterfully executed by both guys, with TAKA trying to outwrestle Suzuki to no avail as each counter is promptly reversed. I love the way Suzuki ragdolls TAKA on the mat, picking at all limbs and working in aggressive legscissors. When TAKA tries to slip out and slide into a headlock, Suzuki immediately puts him back in the legscissors. Knowing he can't outwrestle Suzuki, TAKA employs his usual tactics, grabbing Suzuki's top knot, or smacking Suzuki in the ribs when he's got him on the ground, that shit-eating grin on his face. The strikes really heat up in the backend and when TAKA tries to get cute, Suzuki slaps him silly and unloads on him in the corner. I liked the abruptness of the finish, with TAKA starting to build up to his finisher and then Suzuki quickly grabbing him and putting him away with the piledriver like playtime's over.

These two put together the best match of their series by working a simple but effective formula. It was still a nutty Fire Pro Omega match but they managed to work in the spots without being too self-indulgent and it followed the thread of Okada's injured neck and Omega just blasting it with his high-impact offense. Omega as the movez aggressor works so much more than him cartoonishly selling a limb, whereas Okada, who has historically been spotty in his selling, has improved a lot since the Shibata match and his performance here really sold this match for me. The real turning point was the reverse frankensteiner on the floor, which Okada sold beautifully and it injected some drama into the final half with Omega cranking up the aggression on Okada's neck. One of the best parts of the match was Omega repeatedly kneeing Okada in the head with a distraught Gedo on the outside, covering his head. The crowd was buying the nearfalls and of course, both guys were bumping like crazy. I mean, that uranage/side suplex counter to the Rainmaker was awesomely brutal. Obviously, they were going to ramp it up for the finishing stretch and when Omega hit the double arm piledriver for a nearfall, I thought this was going to either draw or venture into an endless waltz of counters and nearfalls...but it had me guessing and the hot atmosphere of Sumo Hall made it feel important. Omega still isn't my favorite dude in pro-wrestling but he thankfully kept the histrionics to a minimum and by telling a true and tried story rather than trying to impress the pants off of everyone, he wrestled his best match of the year. This was a top notch performance from Okada and yet another shining feather in his cap as he continues to have possibly the best year of his career thus far.