[2010-07-24-NOAH-10th Anniversary Show] Kensuke Sasaki vs Go Shiozaki

[Superstar Sleeze]

Kensuke Sasaki vs Go Shiozaki NOAH 7/10/10
They be a CLUBBERIN, TONY!

 

Bill Eadie take note this is how you make clobbering compelling. Kensuke is an unstoppable force of chops and lariats. I think it is about the 20 minute mark before he hits something besides a chop or lariat and that is a BRUTAL SNAP PILEDRIVER! I loved this stripped down take on pro wrestling. You could feel him beating the life force out of Go Shiozaki. I am not a big Go fan, but to his credit I thought he did a great job selling this demoralization.

 

The beginning took the match in an interesting direction before they re-routed to the final direction. It started off pretty even between the two in terms of test of strength and shoulder tackle battle. However when Sasaki overwhelmed Shiozaki with headbutts, Go realized he was not going to survive a stand up war with this powerhouse and he took him down and worked the leg. He abandoned it even though he was making in roads. He was content to start hitting moves outside the ring and then a facelock in the ring. Sasaki made him pay. Go had the advantage and really did nothing with it. Kensuke just blitzed him with blistering chops. Shiozaki tried to a diving shoulder tackle, but Kensuke swatted him out of the sky and never looked back. They worked a great King of the Mountain and Kensuke did the Kobashi tribute rapid fire chops in the corner. Kobashi is in attendance doing commentary and Sasaki is doing late Chopbashi better than Kobashi mostly because he was not broken down. The middle stretch of the match is the best part of the match.

 

There is a struggle over a suplex, which in NOAH indicates transition time so Shiozaki hits it. What is great about this segment is that does not give Shiozaki control. He has to earn control and spend like the next ten minutes earning that control and it is tense, dramatic and exciting. You can feel him fighting through the pain as he struggles to lift Sasaki up on every suplex attempt. In between every move, Sasaki is rocking him with wicked lariats and chops. Shiozaki has to persevere through it all. Sasaki gets his offense in like the powerslam and weird armdrag thingy. Shiozaki finally takes over and it is going to be this big highspot off the top, but that is not exactly Sasakis forte and they botch it. This is Shiozakis transition into his string of finishers (Moonsault, Go Flasher etc) and finally garnering full control. I appreciate them using a big spot to transition, but should have chosen something they knew they could hit. I liked the Northern Lights Bomb as a quick transition out of another Go Flasher. Then they do a LOOOOOOOOONG Chopbashi tribute. I really liked Shiozaki winding up for a chop but has been so injured by the chopfest that he cant do it. That show of weakness leads to three massive lariats from Sasaki. There is an unnecessary Tiger Suplex before Northern Lights Bomb before Kensuke TAKES THAT DREAM!

 

Really enjoyable match before it ended up into NOAH tedium. Really enjoyed the middle. Sasaki is great at kicking the shit out of people Go sold well and fought back well. ****1/4