Jetlag Posted July 8, 2017 Report Share Posted July 8, 2017 Another decent grappling match, altough they ran out of ideas. Match should've gone 8 or 7 minutes and would've been good, at 11 minutes it felt slightly bloated. I was surprised that Kotsubo didn't stink it up, he kept things moving, had a really nice stiff punch combo and won the match with a olympic leg screw into ankle hold that was pretty boss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetlag Posted October 28, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2017 I rewatched this on a whim and I decided it was a lot better than I initially thought. Nothing GREAT, but perfectly good undercard semi-shootstyle that was actually exciting here or there. The weird thing about the 90s MUGA is that it's like shootstyle with 80s NJPW psychology and tropes; in this case they do spots like the "roll to the floor while in a leglock then slap the shit out of eachother" or "piss off the other guy to lure him into a trap". The grappling early on looked good and the bout had a nice escalation, starting with Kotsubo frustrating Takemura and then pissed off slaps and stomps ensue. I think Takemura went to mexico and then came back as generic heel, he should've stayed a grappler then he might have had a better career. Maybe not in New Japan, but gotten a nice indy run out of it. I echo my previous thoughts on Kotsubo and his punch combo and screw ankle hold, this might be his finest performance ever - which absolutely doesn't say much, but he seemed to be carrying this and it was a nifty enjoyable match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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