[2017-07-22-NJPW-G1 Climax] Minoru Suzuki vs SANADA

[bradhindsight]

Talk about it here.

 

Ioan at PTBN:

 

 

Suzuki slapped Sanada and Sanada got mad. He pummelled Suzuki, but ultimately got caught in the rope-hung armbar then kicked from the apron. Suzuki took him out into the crowd and smashed him with a chair, with El Desperado adding the afters. Back in momentarily, then Suzuki returned to floor where he dismissively swiped at Sanada with punches and slaps, and when Sanada tried to reply, Suzuki nailed him with elbow strikes. Sanada recovered to get rid of Desperado, then landed to springboard dropkick to Suzuki. The Paradise Lock was countered to an armbar, but Sanada made the ropes and countered a kick into a Dragon Screw. This time the Paradise Lock was applied, much to the crowd’s delight, and was followed by a Drive By dropkick. Suzuki was able to counter into a Sleeper, but couldn’t hit the piledriver, and Sanada landed a backdrop and the TKO for a two-count. Suzuki again countered into the Sleeper, and just when it looked like Sanada had slipped out, Suzuki spiked him with the Gotch-Style Piledriver! One, two, three.

This was good, though it didn’t quite sustain the promise of the opening minutes. Sanada succeeding in applying the Paradise Lock was quite something, as it’s not often Suzuki is embarrassed liked that in New Japan, but he never looked like winning, despite (or perhaps because of) his aggression. ***1/4

 

[soup23]

Suzuki seems to have a set formula for this tournament. Decent crowd brawling, some annoying interference, some nifty submissions. That really has a ceiling as far as great matches go. This was another good match that could have probably been great if worked differently. The roll out of the SANADA tie up spot was the only really memorable and unique thing of the entire match. Good but forgettable. ***1/ 4