[2014-07-13-Taiheiyo Pro Wrestling- Flag Raising Battle] Keita Yano vs Tako Nyuto

[Ma Stump Puller]

more detailed diving here

Nyuto is mostly a Mutoha/EXIT guy. Despite him looking like a fairly short and unflatteringly sleazy man (and, well....that's not wrong either) he is one of the more random mat-workers that Keita has had to face up against so he can't just do the usual dominant routine he'd otherwise do at this point and time given Nyuto is a bit less athletic and isn't really inclined for that sort of stuff. Keita's fine with that because that just means he gets to be even meaner with legit Grovit applications and loads of nasty arm work that Nyuto definitely wasn't having fun with at all. Eventually Nyuto has enough of this and goes for his kicks instead which are at least sold half-decently despite being less than convincing in places. Nyuto hits Keita with a particularly rough senton splash and you can tell at this point that this pisses off the guy a fair bit; he kicks out before even 1 when the pin is attempted, immediately gets up and starts just trying to slap the shit out of him. This in turn makes this into more of the usual mid-2010 Keita brawls where he basically shoots on the other guy for the most part.

Loads of just nasty stiff strikes between the pair, Keita has the advantage eventually when they get dragged out in long back and forth bits. Nyuto in desperation decides to go all in with numerous loud headbutts so he gets those back in equal measure in a particularly horrifying spot where even the shitty camera picks up the signature bonking noise that a real headbutt provides as Keita delivers like a dozen of them in sequence. They bring it back near the end as Keita finally seems to be out after Nyuto catches him off-guard with a sucker punch headbutt only for Keita to have been playing possum as he creeps out of the arm/head choke his opponent was trying for to grab on a mean armbar for the submission win. The mat-work is really not that interesting: rather tame by the standards set by a Keita Yano performance not going to lie. Not a whole lot interesting going on in that aspect, fairly generic sprawling with Nyuto not really throwing a lot on the table.

If, however, you want a Keita performance that's just him devolving into insane crazy strikes? This is a excellent choice given what he was throwing out and prepared to take in turn. Nyuto keeps up the tempo and arguably is always the one pushing the boat out that little bit further to get this more intense, moving from grappling to strikes to REALLY stiff strikes to the peak of craziness with ridiculously rough headbutts. As a Jun Izumida guy I love rough ass headbutts but this was bordering on uncomfortable in places despite the pace set before. It definitely pushes the boundaries of what one could consider a acceptable wrestling showing, not withstanding the lack of ring or ropes or....well anything, really. It feels a lot more authentic though, and at the end of the day I'm going to go for that over something more "clean" if that makes any sense.