[2022-07-01-Michinoku Pro] Fujita Hayato vs MUSASHI

[corwo]

This match is impossible to separate from its emotional context. In 2017, during a match with Shinjiro Otani in ZERO1's Fire Festival, Fujita Hayato suffered a knee injury. On November 24, 2018, Hayato announced that he'd been diagnosed with a spinal tumor. Hayato returned to the ring for a bout with Kengo in December 2019 and has made sporadic appearances since then, but has largely been away. Hayato came out to theme "I Believe," a song used by his trainer Norifumi "KID" Yamamoto, who passed away due to gastric cancer in 2018.

While Hayato was gone, the former Daichi Sasaki changed his name to MUSASHI and became the company's ace. He's a different person than the plucky underdog babyface Hayato once knew. MUSASHI's matured, as is shown by his poise when Hayato started to get chippy with him almost immediately. There's no extended, lifeless feeling out process to be found, only two mean dudes wailing on each other as hard as possible.

Things began to ramp up around the five minute mark, where Hayato and MUSASHI both started frantically throwing shoot headbutts. Hayato came across as a certified buttkicker and one of the baddest men on the planet in this match. His strikes were rutal, his kicks grotesque, and his submission game as strong as ever. However, I don't want to overshadow MUSASHI's performance. He brought the fight to Hayato, matching him strike-for-strike.

Hayato takes MUSASHI to the outside and wails on his leg with a steel chair. He goes for a Penalty Kick off the apron, but MUSASHI counters with an inverted dragon screw and uses the chair on Hayato's leg to get some payback. MUSASHI followed that up with a tope con giro. Back inside, Hayato and MUSASHI battered each other with thunderous chops. MUSASHI went for a Brainbuster, but Hayato countered into the K.I.D., his version of the guillotine choke. Hayato would continually go for the submission throughout the match, getting closer to the victory each time.

MUSASHI targeted Hayato's leg throughout the match to try and take away the power of Fujita's kicks, but it wasn't the primary focus. Instead, it was something he gradually chipped away at whenever opportunities presented themselves. Hayato fighting through the pain would annoy me in most instances, but he came off as such an unstoppable force that it didn't bother me. With each glancing blow, Hayato felt more and more defiant. Defiant in the face of the new ace on the block, refusing to let MUSASHI take his spot at the top of Michinoku Pro.

Hayato busted out some wicked transitions here, including one where he twisted MUSASHI's digits at an unsightly angle and seamlessly turned it into a cross armbreaker. Hayato took control of the match with a series of kicks and finally hit the apron P.K. he'd been looking for earlier, with the reverberation causing a fan in the Korakuen crowd to shriek. Hayato again went for the K.I.D., but MUSASHI was able to land a Brainbuster this time.

For a lengthy match, this was largely restrained. The nearfalls were saved for the final stages and more importantly, felt earned. MUSASHI threw everything he could at Hayato, with a Falcon Arrow and several Superkicks not being enough to seal the deal. When all else failed, MUSASHI stuck with what was working for him and goaded Hayato into a strike exchange. Hayato kicked out of a German suplex at one, and it felt like a big deal, not just something done for a cheap pop at the expense of the match. Try as he might, MUSASHI was unable to put Hayato away.

Hayato lit MUSASHI up with kicks, but resiliently, MUSASHI kicked out at one. Hayato transitioned directly into a submission and scored the victory with the K.I.D., winning the Tohoku Junior Heavyweight title for the first time since 2013. After a grueling battle, an emotional Jinsei Shinzaki presented Hayato with the championship. Hayato was also met in the ring by fellow BAD BOY stablemates Ken45° and Manjimaru. In his touching post-match promo, Hayato would go on to call out long-time rival Kenou of Pro Wrestling NOAH, as well as NJPW's Hiromu Takahashi.

This match was, in a word, cathartic. Not since last year's GAEAism tag has a contest made me feel this way. For one magical night in Tokyo, wrestling made me believe again. For one magical night, all was right with the world.

[EnviousStupid]

This was an exhausting affair, and I mean that in the most complimentary tone. Hayato came back like he hadn't missed a step and MUSASHI made sure not to pull any punches. The multiple striking exchanges between these two would put even the best of present-day NOAH and New Japan to shame. Well worth the time investment. You'd be hard-pressed to find another match from this year that feels as monumental as what these two crafted together.

[Tenese Sarwieh]

This was a drawn-out battle of attrition. Everything builds to a beautiful climax of who could withstand the punishment of stiff strikes. A match like this would fit perfectly in modern-day NOAH.