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[2017-08-27-AJPW] Shuji Ishikawa vs Kento Miyahara


superkix

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This was a really good match that had the potential to be fantastic had Miyahara deviated from his go-to formulaic approach. I mean, you had all the Kento "ace" tropes here: the hard in-the-moment selling but convenient bouts of amnesia to shoe in his signature spots and then the final minute comeback barrage of endless knees. But it was a brutally fought match and for the most part, the conveyed struggle, fatigue and desperation on Miyahara's part was great, coupled with the relentless Ishikawa trying to destroy any chance Miyahara has of beating him. I liked all the grunty neckwork building to the gnarly Fire Thunder Driver on the apron that was sold like absolute death by Kento. I thought Miyahara's selling was better than his usual fare but you still have dumb spots like the no sold dragon suplex. Loved the strike exchange toward the end, with an exhausted Miyahara trying to slug away with Ishikawa and Ishikawa just annihilating him. I liked the build to the arm-trap German, with Shuji either using an elbow to escape or just bursting out, but the finish felt very lackluster, especially considering all the punishment Ishikawa had put Miyahara through, including three Fire Thunder Drivers, a bunch of running knees, and a Splash Mountain Bomb. This would have been the perfect opportunity for Ishikawa to kick out of the German and force Miyahara to introduce a new finisher to his repertoire on the biggest stage of the year. But I guess if the formula ain't broke, there's no point in going to the drawing board.

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Kento Miyahara and shuji ishikawa are my two favourite wrestlers in the world and ajpw is my all time favourite promotion and there was a really hot crowd. So pretty much this match was made for me.

 

The story for me here was that shuji was going to do what he always does and just brutalise the back and neck of kento in order to set up for his big moves. While kento did not really have a plan outside of just survive.

 

He came out fireing throwing a ton of kicks and tossing ishikawa into the barricades. But shuji takes over with a avoiding a kento dive from the apron and kento landed neck first on the guardrail not unlike misawa in the match 2003 kobashi match. From here shuji targeted the neck with neck holds and even a fire thunder driver on the apron. All through this kento sold like death and it was amazing. After this control segemnts kento made the first of many quick comeback attempts some of which worked but most failed. When he did take back over is where my one criticism of the match came in I think he got back a little to easy without taking a long enough time to get back in with his comeback.

 

They move into a sintilating finishing stretch with an amazing strike exchange that had no parity like when someone like okada does it and has shit strikes here kento has decent strikes but is completely outclassed by shuji so while he is hitting as many strikes as shuji his are not hurting the monster. It is brutal stiff with shuji just murdering the young ace with elbows and knees lifts a contrast to kento's more elaborate knee strikes.

 

The big moves and kickouts were hot without ever going into the realm of excess. I have seen that some people are annoyed at the finish and that kento did not hit shuji with enough moves and that it was a bit flat. While I do see that opinion as I thought shuji was going to kickout of the shutdown German. But I don't think it was terrible that he did not kickout. I didn't really mind a very minor knitpick at worst.

 

I really loved this match the timing was excellent as was the vast majority of the selling and the transitions made sense and it was not just your turn my turn. The one negative I have is that on one of kento's comeback attempts he did not sell well but that is far from ruining the match and he only did it once. ****3/4 my match of the year so far and the only match this year when even the thought of ***** has entered my mind this puts it as the only ****3/4 so far this year just ahead of tana Vs naito 1 Brock Vs Goldberg, shuji Vs kento 1 and the ss main event all of which were ****1/2.

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Match of the year? At least is in the discussion for me. This was a fucking battle for survival, with Shuji doing an awesome job at being the dominant champ and Kento being an outstanding underdog Ace. Better than their match from May, mainly because the first half was way more compelling and fun to watch. Miyahara's selling was fucking great, it made you think "how the hell is he going to overcome this" all match long while at the same time doing enough to give you hope that there was still a chance. Sumo Hall was game for this, specially a lady that sat near the commentary booth who screamed during the whole damn match for her beloved Kento (a lot of women in the crowd and they were the ones starting the chants for the young Ace). This was so good it had the first suplex trading spot I've liked in more than a decade - it fit the story and it was only one move instead of three or four - and a one count kick out that had me thinking "it kinda makes sense". The finish might be the weakest part of this whole thing as it felt a little out of nowhere withing the context of the match, I thought it need one more bomb before the three count. But all in all this was fucking great, go watch this as Miyahara once again shows us you can have an incredible match in a reasonable amount of time (25 minutes). Fuck what you heard, Kento is my performer of the year.

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This was so great. Shuji just gives Kento's neck a mean, badass beating throughout the whole thing - his targeting of that neck was absolutely brilliant, super focused as pretty much everything he did was aimed at that neck. Kento's selling of that was absolutely perfect; especially loved the wobbly legs selling he did during the strike trading moment & then after that headbutt spot. So, so good. Amazing performances by both guys. A classic. ****3/4

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I really like the transitions in this match, it all felt very logical and I much prefer it to the NJPW style where momentum often swings too quickly. I'm quite new to Kento so need to watch some more. His charisma and naturally over he is is quite infectious and enhances everything he does. The one major drawback I have for this match is Kento's tendency I've noticed that towards the end of the match it's like a lightbulb goes off above his head and he thinks "here's the bit where I win", hits a few signature moves, finisher, wins. Finish was too abrupt here. Still ****1/4

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  • 4 weeks later...

Went into this totally cold as I knew very little about both men and by the end of it, they had me completely marking out. Loved Ishikawa as just a badass hoss knocking down Miyahara at every turn with brutal strikes and big throws. The Fire Thunder on the apron got me completely marking out and the match gets incredibly intense and high stakes from there. I enjoyed Miyahara's fiery comebacks but I especially loved that Ishikawa was more than capable of stopping him in his tracks when necessary. Both guys sold really well for what was needed in the match. Going to agree with others who thought the finish seemed a bit abrupt but it still came at the end of an incredibly hot stretch of action so I'm willing to forgive it.

 

****1/2

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  • 1 month later...

Short list for match of the year for me. I really love the pace and the build of the match. Admittedly, I am mostly cold here. I haven't been watching AJPW recently. In a way that means I am reading only part of the book, but I also really value a match that can paint a solid picture of what is/has been going on when I come in cold. That was done here. When they hit their stride halfway through the match and started to amp up the offense i was really invested. Good selling, good execution. Shuji's cutoffs were my favorite part. This is one of 5 matches I have given ****3/4 to so far this year, nothing with top marks from me yet, so it is probably locked into my top 10 at worst.

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  • GSR changed the title to [2017-08-27-AJPW] Shuji Ishikawa vs Kento Miyahara

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