[2016-02-14-Mutoha-Relaunch Battle Inheritance] GENTARO vs. Makoto Kato

[Ma Stump Puller]

Mutoha's based YT account (ran by the same guy who praised yours truly for talking about how cool the promotion was) recently stuck this up FREE on Youtube if you really wanna see it. You should, because GENTARO grappling matches are always worth the watch. Makoto Kato was a nothing Pancrase guy who moved into super obscure indie pro-wrestling (alongside apparently being a Seikendo-style nerd? Seems cool to me tbh) he doesn't really look the part but he's a pretty good foil for his opponent here. The two have some nice back and forth grappling centred around relatively basic stuff like armbar transitions and Kato using key-locks to maintain control in that regard when he's threatened. There's some like really weird bits due to Kato's relative lack of pro-style experience (he struggles to take a Irish Whip at one point, for instance) but he as a whole has a really scrappy 90's Catch-amateur feel to him that's totally unique from the usual technical wrestler tropes you have today. He kinda feels like what a Mariko Yoshida trainee would wrestle like if they started in MMA and became wrestler rather than the other way around.

GENTARO does his usual great disrespect and carries the general pace of the match, throwing in his usual grappling flair alongside occasional moments of brilliant spite like elbow dropping right on top of Kato's face and doing a nasty jobber-squash version of the running Bulldog like he's wrestling a grimy 80's South TV taping or something. Kato mostly focuses on getting off his fighting spirit slaps before always being shut down by his clearly superior opponent though does get the occasional cool comeback spot. Thought the finish was really simple and kept up the style of match that this was setting itself out to be in the first place; Kato being stubborn and battling to the very end against a much more experienced and competent foe even with the result and odds being heavily against him. Not a Mutoha must watch or anything but pretty robust for how short it was and a good look-in on GENTARO's ability to carry and direct a match on his end.