[2013-02-03-NJPW-Road to the Beginning] Masato Tanaka vs Tomohiro Ishii

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

No-selling of strikes is such a huge, glaring thing for me in this match that it negates the other great work they do. I could even forgive the unnecessary table spot - after all, that’s how Tanaka made his name. And Ishii’s sympathy selling to build to his big comeback was both outstanding and appropriate considering the beating he took from Tanaka, which was insane. But the endless forearm trading, chops and headbutts which aren’t sold even for a millisecond really brings down the match’s other good qualities in a big way. I can’t even call this a good match because of that, which is sad because I really wanted to love it.

[Childs]

Macho strike trading seems to be the biggest cliche in wrestling at this point. I'd be perfectly happy if I never see another example of it. This was a match built around macho strike exchanges. So yeah, no thanks.

[Kevin Ridge]

I can accept no selling of chops but hated them head butting each other like that. Tanaka looking more lean than his ECW days. I probably liked this a bit more than you guys but it is not really something worth going out of the way to see. The criticisms are valid but overall it was an easy match (outside of headbutts) for me to sit back and watch before going to bed.