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[2017-07-27-NOAH] Brian Cage vs Katsuhiko Nakajima


Tawren

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I watched this because it's getting some high-end 2017 potential MOTYC hype in a few modern puro fan circles. This match has some hype but fell under the radar, taking place at the same time as the G1 and also NOAH has such little fanfare these days.

 

I can't remember who said it but the idea is that the first time you see Brian Cage, your mind is blown, but by the fifth time you have seen everything. I agree with that. It's not really a huge criticism, he isn't terrible, but he really feels like he is just playing wrestler and guys with more presence like Jeff Cobb or Keith Lee have just blown right past him.

 

This is 20 minutes of bombs and a finishing sequence from the start. It's fun for sure with some cool moves. But in a crazy year like 2017 this doesn't stand out, especially comparing it to almost forgotten contemporaries from the G1 like ZSJ vs Tanashi, ZSJ vs Ibushi, or Ibushi vs Naito, before even getting into the real crazy matches throughout the year.

 

Nakajima is good too. It's a strange decision from NOAH to give Eddie Edwards the title later in the year.

 

Worth watching, no star rating.

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I thought it went maybe 10 mins to long and that the selling at the end of the match (or lack thereof) was bad but i am not completely down on this match as i thought the first ten mins were really amazing. cage was not selling a thing but that was the point at this time in the match, he was the monster and completely powerd through anything the upjumped jr could throw at him. But I think it should have ended around 15 mins with nakijima making a big comebback before knocking cage out with a head kick. But no they kept going hit a slew of moves and head-drops and did not bother selling them as cage goes from glassy-eyed and knocked out to running and doing dead lifts in a matter of seconds which is omega level awful selling. This was a huge letdown in the latter half. But it was nearly really great, big shame **3/4

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  • 2 weeks later...

First time watching NOAH since 2015, Nakajima since 2013, and never seen a Brian Cage ever, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Cage rocks Nakajima early on with a power bomb on the ring post so the early going is pretty much all Cage. His control segment gives him a nice chance to showcase as pulls out both some very impressive strength spots and some flying spots that look insane from a guy his size. Was especially impressed with how lifted up Nakajima from the apron for a suplex while he stood on the 2nd rope. Later on he also hits a beautiful 619 as if he was Rey Mysterio.

 

Nakajima came across as the perfect opponent for Cage, being small enough for him to do some nice strength spots while throwing such hard strikes that you always buy him having a knockout chance. Really a sight to see both the speed and power with which he can kick and I thought Cage sold fine for him, though I guess he wouldn't have to try to hard to do that with how stiff Nakajima was working. I also dug him briefly working over Cage's leg and doing a cool the fake out spot only to realize he's gotta go for the knockout.

 

I liked the layout with them unloading on each other with bombs all the way through and basically wrestling a 20 minute sprint with no dead time. It's a tight rope to walk, but I think there was enough selling and back-and-forth from both guys to stop it from feeling like they were just running through their spots, and I also liked how most of the big spots came in the form of counters. Cage almost dropping Nakajima during one of his spots near the end was probably a botch, I thought it added a lot to get across the fatigue from the match. Had no issues with Cage's selling in the last few minutes. The match was all about Cage being this freak athlete who wasn't gonna stay down long for anything short of a knockout, and they stuck with it all the way through.

 

Is it a MOTYC? I'm not an authority to say as I've seen scant few matches from this year and I think it's mostly irrelevant to the match anyway, but I did think this smoked Okada/Shibata and Okada/Omega II as the guys wrestled with a clear purpose for the whole thing and there was none of the listless time killing you get in those matches. Honestly, I came into this match pretty down on NOAH as I was still pissed about them becoming an NJPW puppet promotion, but I came out feeling more positive about the promotion from the in-ring standpoint than I have been in a long time. I'd still prefer a classic King's Road style build to straight bomb throwing, but the promotion has moved on from pretending to be the true successor to Baba's AJPW and this match helped me feel at peace with that. ****1/4

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  • GSR changed the title to [2017-07-27-NOAH] Brian Cage vs Katsuhiko Nakajima

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