[2000-07-23-Osaka Pro] Takehiro Murahama vs Daioh QUALLT

[soup23]

We have the 2^nd match in the trial series of Daioh and I’m still on board fully. Daioh does a ton of heel tactics and we get interference galore which take this down a tiny bit from the great level we have seen. However, Murahama is still wonderful taking a beating and then sprinkling in his wonderful kicks when he sees any openings. It is a simple against the odds story but Murahama is such a force of nature that it works and his flash pin works in the context of keeping the story and trial series moving along. ***1/2 (7.2)

[AstroBoy]

Murahama does have that kind of something that sparks his comebacks and makes him believable, cheerable, etc. He pulls off the courageous scrappy fighter more than the sympathetic seller and that works fine here. Daioh is pretty straight ahead and methodical in his attack and uses cheap tactics with the interference playing a bigger role around the match this time. This doesn't build and erupt the way the Murahama-Buffalo match did but it is also a more compact and direct route to the comeback win from Murahama.

 

***

[ohtani's jacket]

This was more of a straightforward heel vs. face match than the Buffalo bout w/ Murahama taking an extended beating from Osaka's Big Red Machine. That was all right though as Murahama has proven to be more than adept at working from underneath. Not as many dynamics at play as the previous trial but entertaining nonetheless.

[Edwin]

This was good, but I prefer the Black Buffalo match from the day before better, but these are also entirely different matches with entirely different opponents. The good thing about this is that it showcases Murahama's ability to work different matches with different opponents. IMO QUALLT isn't on the same level of Buffalo, but he's perfectly fine here heeling it up by even sticking to hitting Buffalo with a fans shoe. Also to QUALLT's benefit, LOV are excellent at interfering. QUALLT and LOV do a good enough job of getting heat on Murahama to make his comeback meaningful and to actually draw a response from the crowd for it.

 

***