[2019-03-19-AJPW] Kento Miyahara vs Naoya Nomura

[Jmare007]

Triple Crown match

An Ace at his peak (or entering his peak) vs the future Ace in a title match is not a dynamic that you get to see much in Japan and I gotta say they pulled it off nicely here. At first this is all about Kento, he's a cocky motherfucker that wants to show the kid he ain't got what it takes, and he pretty much does exactly that. Miyahara's mannerisms and the mandatory Wada fuckery carry the first 10 minutes or so of the match, which are fine but nothing to write home about either. Nomura has to fight like hell to land anything meaningful and it doesn't have a lasting impact because Kento is just better. But as the match goes along, Naoya starts to find cracks in the champ. Little by little, he starts landing more powerful stuff, and he starts to make it very difficult for Miyahara to hit a combo or the straight jacket German Suplex that would finish the match. This goes for a good 5-8 minutes until Nomura is finally going toe to toe with Kento, and you actually believe it, it makes sense, and you buy into the action and the nearfalls. The first portion of the match might be a little too long, but it pays off. Great showcase for Nomura and awesome performance by Kento, who truly did his best to prove Naoya got next.

BTW, Korakuen is perfect for this as they truly represent Nomura's progression in the match. From "cool opportunity for the kid", to "hey, he's hanging in there", to "holy shit look at this kid", to "HOLY FUCK THE KID MIGHT PULL THIS OFF".

 

[nivvad]

Nomura's breakout singles match was against Zeus last year, but this was certainly the match to show he has what it takes to be a major singles player. One worry I had for Kento being the new All Japan "Ace" was a lack of generational rivals. If Nomura can continue to put on great performances like he did here, then I can see him becoming one of the new "Pillars" of All Japan. The match was really great stuff though. Kento worked on top for a majority of the match, but Nomura never backed down once. He has the intensity to match his explosive move-set too. Thought the finish was a little LOLWINS, but the match did it's job in getting Nomura over anyways, ****1/2.

[Tenese Sarwieh]

This achieved it's goal in making Nomura an top guy in the future. He had so much fight never backing down at anything Miyahara threw at him and it build with the crowd actually thinking he was going to win. Miyahara was great project himself as the ace of All Japan and also doing a little semi heel work with the cocky posing and jaw jacking with the ref. 

[Makai Club #1]

Mixed bag. Kento as of late has been a bit of a downer for me and something about him just isn't clicking like he used to. I do appreciate that he switched it up from his last few title defences with him being the aggressor opposed to the underdog role that he has far outgrown by this point but still, it didn't have that compelling fire that he usually has. It didn't draw me into the match very much and it whilst he wasn't terrible, not by any means, it just wasn't totally interesting to me. Nomura was better though. He fit that underdog role and showed tons of fight and fire in his comeback offence. Those forearms were awesome and his selling was pretty good I'd say. Loved the finish with Nomura almost slipping out of the shutdown but Kento being alert, locked him back in it and put him away for the heartbreak. I could've done without the obligatory ten minute brawl that is dull as paint drying and does nothing but pad out the time too. **3/4

[Boss Rock]

Probably the best Nomura match I've ever seen. Similar to KAI, he really seemed to step his game up in this kind of big match setting (even if I think he's much better than KAI to begin with) Really enjoyed the story of Nomura coming at Kento with loads of fire and aggression only for Kento to still be one step ahead in the moments where it really mattered. I just wish Kento would mix things up a little bit in these matches. He has a formula and it definitely works, but it still felt like more of the same with the big Blackout and German suplex comebacks that we've seen in his last 3-4 title matches. With that being said, he did a tremendous job selling for Nomura and making it look like there was a chance he could lose even if the result was never in doubt.

Ultimately everything you'd expect from a Kento title match, but that means it's still really good. ****1/4

[WingedEagle]

I'm starting to sour a bit on Miyahara.  Yes, he's very good.  But he doesn't belong in the conversation with the best in the world.  Far too often concerned with getting in his signature spots and poses, even where they add absolutely zero to the match, and his inability or unwillingness to deliver any sustained selling has become pretty blatant.  It says something when my takeaway here was that Nomura was more responsible for this match delivering than the proverbial company ace.  He committed to selling to the point that Miyahara couldn't rush through his spots as he usually does, and showed GREAT fire down the stretch before eventually coming up short.  Give me more of that young man.  

It may sound like I'm down I'm on the match because of my issues with Miyahara but that's hardly the case.  There was strong offense and a hot finishing stretch that may very well have elevated Nomura going forward.  This was a very good main event.  But Miyahara's flaws are such that this is his ceiling unless he's in with an opponent like Shuji Ishikawa who will absolutely force him to slow down and fall into simply checking off boxes.

***3/4

[ShittyLittleBoots]

 This was very much your paint-by-numbers cocky champion vs. young underdog stuff, and it was pretty enjoyable. Just solid action from start to finish, nothing that truly grabbed me or made me invested, but nothing boring or bad either. LOVED the finish with Nomura escaping that first Straight Jacket German attempt & then Kento immediately grabbing him again, this time not letting him slip out. A very nice bit of flash urgency there. **3/4