[2012-06-03-Michinoku Pro] Fujita Jr Hayato vs Kenou

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Champion Kenou vs Fujita Jr Hayato - Michinoku Pro 6/3/12

 

Time to give my boy Fujita Jr Hayato some love. I am not sure there is a better babyface that combines sympathetic selling and asskicking offense as well as Hayato. Hayato is so over with the M-Pro crowd. He has this total Stone Cold fuck the world vibe, just a total badass. Let he sells like he is Ricky Fucking Morton and then delivers an asskicking as if he is Shinya Hashimoto. He is God's gift to wrestling. I like Kenou as an opponent for him definitely someone who stays on task and can trade stiff kicks with him. In fact, I thought the sections with Kenou on top were the best because Hayato's classic midsection selling was great, but Kenou's offense was meeting him right there. The transition to this heat segment was a great swift punt to Hayato's balls. Kenou threw him into the chairs a classic M-Pro spot and then the double stomp to the abdomen. We were off to the races. I thought what Kenou did so well is felt like he was always trying to win the match. He was clearly setting himself up for big stuff and always escalating. Gutbuster into Camel Clucth was great. When Hayato first started to mount a comeback and he finally kicked through Kenou you see Kenou comeback with a stiff shot right to the midsection. He loved those nasty forearms to the midsection that left Hayato doubled over in pain. The match definitely relied a lot on stiffness. These two beat the shit out of each other. Hayato was finally able to comeback by kicking out Kenou's leg and then hitting a monster dropkick. He nearly kicked Kenou's shoulder off with an apron kick and even sold his own foot. Back in the ring they just start slapping the shit out of each other. I mean WOW! That's the way it should be done. Kenou hits a roundhouse kick to the midsection to regain control. He really has purpose to everything he does nailing a wicked dropkick to the head and when Hayato kicks out he is ready with a vicious anklelock and when Hayato makes the ropes it is a double stomp to the back. Kenou on offense and Hayato selling has been magic. It is back to midsection with nasty forearms and he goes for the double stomp misses. Hayato goes all KENTA for a second and runs a million miles per hour with a knee to Kenou, but back to the kick exchange that Hayato wins that is much better than the KENTA bullshit that I thought was going to creep into the match. Roundhouse kick to the head followed by an uppercut knee and that's only two! The match is starting to feel bloated and excessive now. Now Kenou wins a kick exchange and finally hits the double stomp from the top rope. This has to be it. 1-2-NO! Nice deadlift German I love Hayato's kickout, totally out of it, but shakes his head like it is going to take a lot more. Kenou goes for the Dragon Suplex to finish, but Hayato turns it into the Guillotine Choke. Hayato kicks Kenou's head off and it is the deadweight sell and kick out. We have officially reached diminishing returns on these kicks outs. Dragon Suplex by KenOu was a great nearfall, but should have been five minutes earlier. Hayato hits two monster kicks to the head, which of course is not the ending finally the uppercut knee wins the match for Hayato.

 

I thought the first half-2/3s was incredible especially Kenou's work on Hayato's midsection and Hayato's selling. That was some ***** shit. Both men were wrestling out of this world. What hurts is that even though Hayato was laying everything and shit looked crisp as fuck, it felt aimless and meandering. This felt bloated and stagnant at times. How many times can you go back to a kick exchange we need to move forward. The finish stretch was very NOAH and went on and on. Still the best Japanese match of 2012 that I have seen so far, but I believe Tanahashi/Suzuki, which I saw three years ago will be better once I get to it. ****1/4