[2014-03-02-WRESTLE-1] Austin Aries vs Seiya Sanada

[G. Badger]

There's 2 titles for the show. The Outbreak title which is the Wrestle-1 title. Then, TNA's which is One Night Only Global Impact 2014. In case anyone was confused...

 

Anyhow, I was completely ignorant to the fact that Sanada wrestled in TNA. I've been doing research for 2011-2015 AJPW and Sanada shows up early on in his team with Manabu Soya.

 

So, I got distracted and watched a few Sanada matches in TNA including a recommended World title challenge vs AJ Styles. However, this match for Aries' X-Division belt is the best. It's thankfully more Jr. Puro style than TNA TV style. It's fought at a quick pace with excellent execution and with little daylight between strikes.

 

Aries still has it. He was hitting his repertoire like it was 2007. Sanada was on point and impressive as well. They're very similar in style and build so, there was a nice parity story early on.

 

This match had wrinkles added to Aries' spots. Sanada had him scouted it would seem. Its what made this memorable. They changed it up from the "I'll do my stuff, you do yours, let's go home" match they could have worked. There were some nice surprises and the finish was pretty good without going too far.

 

It was a competitive fight that delivered what I was expecting and a little bit more. Highly recommended especially if you're in a re-watching 10 year old ROH mood.