[2002-06-07-NJPW] Bas Rutten vs Masayuki Naruse

[Ma Stump Puller]

Naruse being a RINGS vet meant that he could carry the task of doing this random Inoki-Ism match to build Bas up for his Nagata match fairly well. This mostly had a good rhythm to it with a lot of back and forth in stand-up with Naruse using some wildly impractical kicks that barely hit their mark when he uses them. Bas here is a lot more methodical with how he conducts himself, tending to focus less on random big pushes to action and more of a calm approach to things & using submissions only when Naru tries to go for takedowns, preferring to work stand-up instead for the most part. This goes on for a good couple of minutes until Naruse makes the mistake of poking the bear by landing a loud slap to the side of Bas' head and trying to rush in right after. He in return gets a incredibly awesome receipt in a vicious Teep kick to the body and probably one of the best roundhouses in recorded history as he just smacks Naruse right the fuck down with what could only be really described as baseball bat-levels of force to the side of his head. The camera only briefly catches it but you can see Bas himself mouth "oh shit" immediately right after.

Naruse barely gets up and he looks legitimately rocked from the shot with big wide open eyes and zero expression in his face, yet is still able to recover enough to land a Capture Suplex into an Achilles Tendon hold to slow things down. The two have a cool struggle over some leg holds as Naru grabs Bas' other leg for a neat toe hold to force a rope escape. We get a awesome counter to a takedown right after as Bas underhooks Naru's arms mid-tackle and hits a big knee to rock him to the ground for a tight looking rear naked choke for another escape. There's some hope thrown in as Bas hits a combo of head shots but Naruse is able to just about catch one into ankle lock; we have this amazing visual of Bas just a second faster reaching the ropes before Naru could drag him into the middle of the ring and perhaps even get a miraculous win out of the whole thing. Once that last inch of hope is gone this doesn't attempt to even pretend the two are even. Bas rocks Naru with a series of vicious shots and when he attempts to hide in open guard presumably to try to bait some grappling Bas just punches him in the stomach until he gets his ass back up lol. Actual finish is great with another big roundhouse to the head finishing things off in dramatic fashion as Naruse slowly flops to the ground for a KO win.

This is honestly pretty great as a whole even if the start starts, well, rather slow. Not bad, mind you; just slow. It definitely takes a bit to get into things and the action you are fed to presumably keep you at the table isn't the most exciting. I will say that the second half starts off incredible with the slap to the head by Naruse and it basically never stops being uber-tense and exciting all the way to the finish, carrying no real way to predict what will happen next to boot. Bas has this truly unique aura of unpredictability and danger where any single strike/hold could potentially be a conclusive finish: something Naruse sells very well with how apprehensive he is to even commit to much of anything for the start. But of course, eventually, curiosity gets the better of him: he thinks he can chase the dragon and make something of himself here. He pays for that hubris. A lot. That by itself really makes the match what it is....alongside some sick strikes but hey, sue me.