[2017-04-13-NJPW-Lion's Gate: Project 4] Hirai Kawato vs El Desperado

[William Bologna]

Kawato's great. He's got a great dropkick, he throws better elbows than Okada, and he's got this really expressive over-enthusiastic body language. Like, he's always in a hurry and when he changes directions his body keeps going in the wrong direction. He's like a puppy on a hardwood floor.

 

He and Desperado have the normal young lion shows his fighting spirit match, and it works. Maybe it's Desperado's timing or maybe it's Kawato or maybe it was just a great crowd, but they are into the comebacks.

 

This was a perfect young lion match and the highlight of what wound up being a pretty fun show. I'm not going to make claims for any match but this one, but it was an enjoyable two hours. Red Shoes got to ref his son's first match, there was a guy pretending to be a dinosaur, and you didn't have to worry about anyone going 40 minutes and ending their career.