[2019-08-31-NJPW-Royal Quest] Kazuchika Okada vs Minoru Suzuki

[paul sosnowski]

Kazuchika Okada defends the IWGP World Heavyweight Title.  Talk about it here

[Makai Club #1]

Live experience makes it so much better. I bought a ticket to see an Okada match and I got a hell of a smackfest. I was in complete awe of Okada. The guy had a magnatism that you couldn't take your eyes from and Suzuki... oh well he made sure it was him that you couldn't take your eye off. For the longest match of the show by a considerable margin, this was superbly wel paced. The early 5 minutes breeze by with the two masters of wrestling, controlling the crowd, playing off each other and their other matches well. Which then built and built until they had an awesome strike off. The striking from Suzuki was amazing - his elbows were viscous and pinpoint as was his slaps. Okada sold every strike like a champ - the pain after each shot, the determination to not let Suzuki win the battle by getting back up and firing off his own even if they didn't have any effect. The closing stretch was top notch, also. Great drama with the dropkicks being used to great effect and the teasing the Gotch piledriver. Just two fantastic performances that was able to take components of their previous matches and up the ante for the unfamiliar (ish) crowd. This is everything I wanted from these two and then some. ****3/4

[Boss Rock]

Okada and Suzuki have always had amazing chemistry together and this match was no exception. At 30+ minutes, one might normally expect the "inconsequential first third/first half, hot second two thirds/second half" formula NJPW main events have become known for. That was not the case here and one of the reasons for that was how well these two complement each other. Okada is a bad mat worker and not a particularly great striker, two things that Suzuki is very good at. Meanwhile, Suzuki is 51 and understandably slower while Okada is a freak athlete who is a master of finishing stretches and making things feel important. Suzuki was terrific as the sadistic yet focused heel hell-bent on breaking Okada down. Okada sold everything like death and yet admirably did his best to withstand everything Suzuki threw at him while not quite beating him at his own game. It made everything come off as much more of an intense struggle than a lot of NJPW matches (and this is from someone who loves the promotion and style). I was particularly impressed with how Okada really layed into his forearms in the latter half of the match and how he slapped on a pretty impressive looking sleeper hold. It was ingenious storytelling of the ace who normally relies on his athleticism and gas tank realizing he was going to have to step the rest of his game up. Suzuki also did a great job adding a wrinkle to Okada's normal reversal-heavy finishing stretch by pummeling his way out of Rainmaker attempts. Okada's struggle to avoid the Gotch Piledriver to finally secure victory was also pretty riveting stuff. My only real criticism of the match was that I think Okada could have shown a bit more urgency during his initial comeback after being walloped by Suzuki, but that's more of a nitpick than anything.

This is quite possibly the best match of the year and the best match between these two, which is really saying something. ****3/4

[FMKK]

Did you watch on TV? How did the crowd come across? The reactions in the building were huge.

[SmartMark15]

16 minutes ago, FMKK said:

Did you watch on TV? How did the crowd come across? The reactions in the building were huge.

Watched the footage, crowd was fantastic all the way through. The "Kaze ni Nare" was electric.