[2005-08-11-NJPW G1 Climax 2005] Toshiaki Kawada vs Minoru Suzuki

[Superstar Sleeze]

Toshiaki Kawada vs Minoru Suzuki - NJPW 8/11/05

A pretty intriguing match on paper as Kawada is a part of the 2005 G-1 Climax. Kawada was still capable of great stuff in 2005 see the January Sasaki match, the February Kojima match and the July Misawa match. I run pretty hot and cold with the mercurial Minoru Suzuki so he is not a shoe-in for a great match but I really enjoyed the Kobashi match from January. 
 

Overall I thought this was good not great and the home stretch really didn’t land for me. They do a symmetrical beginning which each wrestler slapping and beating down the other until the other is forced from the Ring. Kawada was on offense second so transitions into his control segment which is pedestrian. He does his single leg crab and general clubbering. Suzuki does not really do any interesting selling or struggle. Suzuki gets a flash Arm bar to transition out which I liked. He does some round kicks to the arm which Kawada sells well. I really liked the battle of knee lifts in the corner which I was hoping would fulfill our strike exchange quota for the match. There was a real sense of desperation and urgency to the knee lifts. The match comes Suzuki’s choke versus Kawada’s head rocking offense. Suzuki keeps going for the choke bur Kawada dumps him on his head with a Dangerous Back Drop Driver. It takes a couple of those, a kick to the head and a Brainbuster to really make in-roads and Suzuki is determined to get the choke. Suzuki gets a great flash knee bar counter to a Kawada kick that is sold really well. Unfortunately the match devolves into a powerslap pissing contest. They try to start throwing potatoes but Suzuki’s are really glaringly pulled. Kawada who throws a good potato takes a while to really connect. Then goes full Misawa with the elbows and Suzuki gets KO’d and Kawada sits on him for the win. 
 

There was a great match in here of Minoru Suzuki the counter wrestling getting flash submission on the All Japan classical pro wrestler and then finding out is that the high impact of Kawada or the superior counter wrestling of Suzuki that wins the day but there is too much downtime and random shit to call this anymore than good. ***