[2014-12-28-Pro Wrestling Wallabee- Wallabee Souled Out 2014] Keita Yano vs. Ultimate Spider Jr

[Ma Stump Puller]

Spider comes into this with a taped up shoulder/support, naturally that became apart of the match. This came about in a number of ways; Keita aiming to target it with his limb work, Spider having to take breaks to fix it and Keita teasing running in and attacking him, etc etc. Keita also attacked the leg whenever convenient to even things out as not to make this too one-dimensional, which was similarly cool to see. As a match this mostly composed of the two doing some tricked out lucha Llave back and forth exchanges. Spider being a Osaka Pro lifer would make you presume that he wouldn't be particularly amazing at this but he actually got to show off some skills in that regard, having some real fun bits where he's able to catch out Keita during his showy holds to do his own in turn with some dynamic counters. Keita in the middle starts ripping off Kendo Kashin spots (dude loves the guy for some reason) with some dirty chokes and stomps to throw some variation into this beyond the grappling. Spider stepped up here as well as he threw some hellish chops and forearms when they started trading.

Things got a bit silly as Spider was using traffic cones as dangerous weapons alongside Keita throwing out random back rakes, yet also included some fantastic counters that got started off when Spider had a headscissors applied and his opponent slid the loose foot into a figure-four toe-hold that Fujiwara would've been proud of seeing in action. Seeing the guy use his signature knee brace (of all things? ) as a way to do even more damage when Spider tried rolling out by just jabbing it into the calf was sheer genius and one of the main reasons why I watch most random Keita Yano matches I stumble across; throwing out really awesome stuff that you aren't going to see anywhere else. We also got the usual Keita high spots as he pulled out his running senton while also some super goofy bits like him trying to use a chest fly machine as a makeshift turnbuckle for a attempted tornado DDT. The setup was.....less than amazing: Spider flipping out of it into a cutter was really cool though as was the more spotty pacing for the last third as they exchanged some big moves between each other. Keita finishes up with three tilt-a-whirl backbreakers into a fairly neat spinning Tombstone for the 3.1 pinfall.

One of the more action-packed lucha inspired matches from this era of Keita/Wallabee showings and it's definitely very much as enjoyable as the more strict shoot-style ones around as well. Spider is a pretty solid foil that can strike, grapple, and has plenty of atheticism to show off despite the obviously bizarre conditions set up here. Keita does throw in the occasional amazing moment on the mat but he's more content to wrestle with a bit more shtick here as a Kashin-lite heel with back rakes, elbow smashes, etc etc. It's not a particularly endearing side of him, still say it does the job here though. Good underrated showing for this year.