[2023-03-21-AJPW Dream Power Series] Yuji Nagata vs Shuji Ishikawa

[Ma Stump Puller]

Yuji Nagata defends the AJPW Triple Crown Title

I was worried about this one when it was announced seeing Nagata doesn't have someone like Miyahara there to work the faster-paced bits as well as having to work as the champ instead of the challenger, so there's increased standards as opposed to being a one and done match. Ishikawa wasn't going to win this in a million years given he's equally looking rough, so this was already a match with a big hill to climb. The start of this was all about Nagata trying to find gaps in his opponent to exploit: he tries for arm work, and fails. He tries cranking Ishikawa's head with submissions, but fails. He tries rattling him with forearms, but fails, mostly because his forearms are still terrible. He even tries doing some outside brawling sthick, but Ishikawa simply picks him up and goes for a really nasty apron foot stomp. Nagata sells the foot stomp like death, and equally does so when it keeps getting targeted afterwards for more damage. Eventually Nagata finds something when he intercepts a charge with a knee shot to the leg, which allows him the small grapevine to hone in on holds and submissions. It's a excuse for him to lie down basically but it also works as a way for him to take charge here without relying on shitty forearms. Stiff headbutt and Ishikawa goes for a properly insane apron spot as he does his powerslam piledriver to Nagata there, which even with the obvious assistance and being fairly slow was crazy to see.

This gives Nagata a excuse to lie down for a few minutes for a count-out tease before getting back in. Ishikawa keeps control with more solid forearm shots. They have to do the silly top rope Exploder spot (because every big-time Nagata match needs it now, apparently) so he goes up to the top rope for no reason other than for Nagata to counter and then do what he does; really bad and transparent all things considered. Dub spot for more rest time afterwards. They go for the usual "no selling/exchange finishers" bit but are so gassed that they can't even no sell properly, so they weirdly spring up after a small delay after each move with a very lethargic pace. Another dub spot after a bad running knee. Ishikawa goes for some really bad-looking knee strikes for a near fall before doing another piledriver for another one. Splash Mountain powerbomb attempt is resisted, Nagata gets hit with a lariat anyway. Second looked really bad as Nagata couldn't get up properly, so it almost looked like Ishikawa was going for a Ganso Bomb instead for a uncomfortable few seconds before they recover and it goes as planned. Nagata lands a rogue knee shot to the head and works the arm with his usual wacky Nagata Lock shtick but this also goes nowhere, Ishikawa doesn't sell any of it afterwards, it's just a excuse for Nagata to do his goofy face and run though another spot. Finish simply has Nagata doing his usual bombs and them exchanging forearms, which Nagata loses again.

Ishikawa lands a back suplex and a knee to the head but doesn't go for the pin (???) so that Nagata can win with a rolling wheel kick and two backdrops when he tries for a random extra knee strike. The two tried well here, however I thought this was incredibly disappointing for a main. They paced this in a way to give lots of breathing room and it really shows near the end when they are stumbling and fumbling a lot, because they are trying to do a "big epic" match when they simply can't measure it out by this point. Nagata can still work, don't get me wrong, but there was no real aim behind his stuff; he worked the arms and then the legs, did nothing with either outside of crowd-popping spots: it felt like a caricature of the guy, which is fine for generic 6-man tags, for a Triple Crown main event it doesn't work, idk if Nagata is just used to working his usual safe routine due to years of mediocre NJPW material making it muscle memory. Ishikawa has never been a favourite of mine but you could tell he was really trying to make this solid as much as humanly possible on his end, doing a bunch of big stuff and hitting really hard with some of his strikes. He might have been enough to carry this maybe 5 or 6 years ago to something better, but by this point he's really past that level physically. It's a shame, really, because I can see these two having a possibly great match if not for the need to pace this way beyond the limits of both of them for the sake of making the match long when this could've been perfectly suitable as a 15 minute run. 

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeCampbell]

I really wanted to like this, because they both sell like death when Nagata works the knee and Ishikawa works the ribs, but both body part segments were just filler and had no impact on the finish at all, and their execution was godawful, even Nagata's armbar toward the end looked like he was exerting next to no real pressure on Ishikawada.