[2019-02-19-Giant Baba Memorial Show] Kento Miyahara & Daisuke Sekimoto vs Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yoshitatsu

[Jmare007]

Very fun tag match, specially for an exhibition show/match. It had a lot of really good exchanges and they did not shy away from the stuff people wanted to see the most. Tana was the star in this, as he gave us asshole heel Tana and he's always fucking amazing in that role. His cutoffs were perfectly timed and I loved the little things like doing to Mutoh sign right in from of him after doing a dragon screw. I also gotta give him MAJOR props for making Sekimoto look amazing, Tana let Daisuke chop him hard as fuck, lariat him to oblivion AND do the doble german suplex spot, that's a level of generosity that's rarely seen in a interpromotional match, specially between such a big star and a big indy name.

Kento did the most with his interactions with Tana, and he really came off as a star too imo. He had control of the crowd and his defience over Tanahashi felt natural and not try hard. The air guitar bit was Yoshi was fine, he doesn't do anything wrong but his stuff doesn't really resonate with the crowd (and myself), he's just there. The finish kinda hurt because of that, as the pairing to bring to match home was Miyahara/Yoshi, and even though what they did was good, it didn't really got much of a reaction.

This really makes me want to see Tanahashi vs Kento - maybe at this year's CC? Tana is gonna be available - and Tanahashi vs Sekimoto, but that one has no shot of ever happening

Cool match, kinda long but I was satisfied with what they did.

[nivvad]

Is it blasphemous to say this was slightly disappointing? I still really liked this match and thought it was great though, so don't get me wrong. I just figured putting 3 of the best wrestlers in the world (Yoshi is good enough to at least hang) in the same match would lead to a possible MOTYC, but what we got is what we got. It was the main event of a Baba memorial show, so of course the Triple Crown champ was going to be the star of the match, but that didn't mean Tanahashi had to put on the bare minimum of effort either. His effort wasn't bad, he still had some really good sequences with both Kento and Sekimoto, but I don't feel bad saying Yoshitatsu put in a better effort. All I can pray for is singles matches between Tanahashi and Kento/Sekimoto, but for now this was good enough to please the thought of it, ****1/4.

[Richeyedwards]

This like the entire show was a lot of fun, you had plenty of crowd pleasing stuff from the guys, getting their stuff in and generally looking like they were having a lot of fun. Kento with the old triple crown for the first time since 2013 was awesome.

Tanahashi and Tatsu acted as heels for most of the match working a heat segment on Kento before he got the hot tag to Sekimoto. The heat segment was not great as Tatsu and Tanahashi do not have very good offence. Tanahashi’s offence can work for singles matches where he takes his opponent apart and Tatsu works in a heated brawl with SUWAMA or Akiyama but not so much in a 20+ minute tag where they are expected to work a heat segment.

It was not a bad segment just nothing special, they worked of the aura and the specialness of having Tana and Kento in the same ring. they did a little comedy work early. Finish run was good with Kento and Tatsu even though there was no doubt as to who was going to win there. I really liked the match but it was more a showcase about moments rather than outstanding work they through in a couple of big moves such as the Seki stacked German which was surprising to see Kento and Tana take. ***1/2

Post match where Kento thanked Tatsu, Seki and ignored Tanahashi was good, Kento looked like so much of a star.

[Tenese Sarwieh]

Everyone came in this match to have all the fun they could have and major cool points for bringing out the original triple crown titles. It's always a blast seeing Tanahashi in a heel role and got a kick out of him flexing to Sekimoto and doing the Mutoh sign. Miyahara was the man here and had the crowd in the palm of his hands with everything he did. Sekimoto was great being himself throwing chops and lariats with power moves everywhere. Yoshitatsu was good in the heel role as well. I know it's a no shot but after this match I'm down for Miyahara/Sekimoto in this year's G1 facing Tanahashi.